Pitch clock to be used in minor leagues in 2015

Major League Baseball continues to explore ways to improve the game's increasingly laborious pace of play, and even experimented with a 20-second pitch clock in the Arizona Fall League several months ago.

Though certain league officials would love to see a pitch clock introduced at the MLB level, executive vice president of baseball operations Joe Torre recently conceded that such a drastic measure isn't imminent.

"I'm not about to say it can't happen," Torre told ESPN's Jayson Stark. "But I think we're a little ways away from that."

Commissioner Bud Selig, however, announced Thursday that a pitch clock will be introduced at both Double-A and Triple-A for the upcoming season. Details, including the time allowed between pitches, are expected to be revealed at a later date.

The rules governing pace of play in the majors won't change significantly for the 2015 campaign, but newly-appointed commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to gradually implement measures to shorten game time without compromising the game's integrity.

"All that matters, I think, is that we continue to move forward," said one baseball official close to Manfred. "We need to move as fast as we can, without undoing the integrity of the game or doing anything that dramatically changes the nature of the game."

EVOLUTION OF GAME LENGTH, 1975-2014