On the first day of live batting practice at Chicago Cubs camp, right-hander Adrian Sampson stood on the mound ready to face his teammates -- just as he had done to start preparation for the season in his 11 previous years of professional baseball.
But this time, there was a clock hanging high on the backstop behind the hitter and catcher.
When Sampson received the ball after each pitch, the clock reset to 15 seconds and started counting down. He wasn't just working on the pitches he was throwing, but how quickly he could throw them.