In 2022 Major League Baseball tried new rules in the minor leagues: a pitch clock, limits on defensive shifts and larger bases. The tests were run “ahead of possible big league use in 2023.”
The pitch clock worked. The average minor league game fell from 3 hours 3 minutes in 2021 to 2 hours 38 minutes in 2022. In September 2022, MLB’s competition committee voted to bring the changes to the major leagues in 2023.