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Jose Ramirez doesn't like how pitch clock is messing up walk-up song
Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Guardians' Jose Ramirez doesn't like how pitch clock is messing with his walk-up song

Major League Baseball's new pitch clock is generating a lot of strong opinions on both sides of the discussion, but Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez has introduced a new talking point on the subject.

The impact it is having on his walk-up song. 

"It’s definitely going to be an adjustment," said Ramirez on Monday through his interpreter, via Cleveland.com

"Particularly, I think it’s going to affect me in a way because my routine involves listening to my walk-up song. There are things I remember, that I think in that moment, that sometimes I miss and it (the song) reminds me to do.”

Professional athletes across all sports are definitely creatures of habit and they tend to get settled into their routines. So in that sense, if Ramirez really does utilize his walk-up song in such a way who is anybody else to judge what works for him? He has obviously been quite successful at the plate throughout his career and is consistently one of the league's best hitters. 

But he is going to have to find a new way to handle his routine because the pitch clock is here, and so far the league has been extremely strict in enforcing it throughout the spring training games. 

The new pitch clock rules this year include a 30-second limit between batters (which is where Ramirez's issue with the walk-up song comes into play) and a 15-second limit between pitches. That number increases to 20 seconds when a runner is on base. Also if a batter is not in the batter's box and engaged with a pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the clock it will result in an automatic strike being called. 

The early results in spring training are significantly faster games with a far steadier pace. It might be a big adjustment early on, but spring training is the time for that. By the time the regular season rolls around a lot of the weirdness we have seen so far should be eliminated. Players should also find new routines to make it work with their walk-up song. 

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