Things are changing rapidly in Major League Baseball this spring.

The pace-of-play across the league is up, and the average time-of-game numbers are down. Teams are hitting the ball more, and scoring more runs, while simultaneously not dragging games along for hours on-end. Most of baseball's rule changes have been considered home runs in the early part of Spring Training, and the addition of a pitch clock is chief among those changes.

The pitch clock has also created a few viral moments on social media this spring, including this one, in which a New York Yankees' southpaw wasted exactly zero time in picking up a strikeout.

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New York Yankees' Lefty Peralta Goes Viral For Speedy Strikeout

The New York Yankees were facing the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon, and Yankees' star southpaw Wandy Peralta was on-the-mound. Peralta was pitching in the second inning, as is customary during Spring Training, so that MLB hitters can face MLB pitchers before the Minor League hopefuls check into the game.

Peralta got set to face Tucupita Marcano, the Pirates' second baseman yesterday, and before we all knew it, the inning was over. Take a look:

This video clip went viral on Twitter among baseball fans, who were amazed by the speed with which Peralta operated. They were also surprised that Marcano remained in the batter's box the entire time, with no real effort to try to disrupt Peralta's rhythm.

After the first pitch, it took just over three seconds for the pitcher and hitter to re-set. The pitch clock began at its customary 15 seconds, and had just clicked from 12 to 11 seconds when Peralta wound-up and fired.

In a similar vein, the clock had just clicked from 11 seconds to 10 when Peralta began his delivery on his 0-2 pitch. That's seven seconds in-between the pitches, and a grand total of 20 seconds for the entire at-bat.

Here were some of our favorite responses to the viral video, as captured by Jomboy Media:




Let me be clear on one thing: I am ALL FOR this particular change to the rules in baseball. Pitchers and hitters alike were taking far too much time in-between pitches in recent years, and that trend was making it much more difficult to sit through an entire baseball game, even as a die-hard fan, like myself.

Fans love intensity in their favorite sport, and the pitch clock adds an extra bit of that for every single pitch. Not only that, but there is a track record of success with other sports that have added this type of thing to their game. Football has the play-clock, basketball has the shot-clock, and lacrosse has a shot-clock, as well.

Yankees' lefty Wandy Peralta / Getty Images
Yankees' lefty Wandy Peralta / Getty Images
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All three sports seem to benefit from the pace-of-play that a clock creates, and fans of all three sports benefit from the increased intensity in every possession.

Now, will Wandy Peralta average 20 seconds per at-bat this season? No, I wouldn't expect that to be the case. That being said, as Max Scherzer stated earlier in the spring, pitchers have the opportunity to weaponize the pitch-clock this season. They can use the device to make opposing hitters uncomfortable, and it will be fascinating to watch which pitchers indeed choose to do this.

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