1- I have seen this tried maybe twice in my life (and nothing happened)
2 and 3- have never seen these attempted. come on, the catcher is standing up, no one can run on him
The intentional walk rule is a great idea, and I also like the pitch clock.
I completely disagree about 'running on the catcher'. Those pitches come in at about 80mph or even slower sometimes. It's nothing more than a lob toss, and no one is paying attention to the runners. A runner COULD get a good jump. For example....
Stealing 3rd. Pitch is slow. Catcher can't catch it until it crosses the plane of home plate. Right handed batter. It's longer throw, when the runner has a good jump and a slow pitch. I think there is a possibility of making such a play.
Stealing home. It doesn't matter where the catcher is now. In fact standing up, and jumping to the outside to catch the pitch puts him in a much more difficult position to make the play. Again, I'm not saying that teams should try it all the time. I'm just curious why everyone is so conservative.
However, I think that my curiosity is piqued by the question.....How is the pressure from the broadcast partners being placed on MLB?
If the broadcasters are saying..."The problem is that the game is too long....." then a pitch clock makes sense.
But I think the real problem is not how long a time there is between pitches, but rather how long it takes to play a game because of the strategy employed by managers with respect to pitching changes and mound visits.
Therefore, while I would like a pitch clock, I would be much happier to see rules like:
Limits on position players visiting the mound for conversations (catcher excepted).
Any trip from the dugout to the mound requires a pitching change.
Pitchers are required to pitch to 2 batters unless injured (and, if they leave the game for injury, relievers are not available for a week).
And, my personal favorite which I think applies in EVERY SPORT WHERE THERE IS REPLAY:
Teams do not get to look at the replay themselves before deciding to challenge a play. Real time only.