The pitch clock — and the adjustments required of pitchers and batters because of it — has dominated much of the narrative through the first week of baseball’s regular season.

Less discourse has surrounded the new rules that ban dramatic shifting.

Infielders must now have their feet touching the dirt, and the days of saturating one side of the infield with defenders are over. Second base serves as a new dividing line: two infielders to the left and two to the right of the bag.

What’s the verdict? Francisco Lindor spoke to Sports+ this week to share his thoughts on the changes.

How are you liking the new defensive rules for infielders?

Francisco Lindor:  I’m happy that there’s no shift. I think it’s great for the game. I think it creates more plays and also forces players to trust more of their instincts: To be more alert, to be more in the game, to anticipate more. … Before, I could look around and then they hit the ball, one step, catch it and throw. Now the ball that was one step is three or four steps.

It seems like you’re not the only one who has benefited. Jeff McNeil, in particular, has looked sharp defensively at second base. Is that something you’ve noticed?

FL: Yeah, because you have guys that can move a lot and when you have smaller space, you sometimes run into each other. But now when the other guys have more room, you don’t worry about that. You just go. It’s like Little League: You go after the ball, and you try to take it from the other guy.

You’ve been very good defensively your first two seasons with the Mets, but you haven’t won a Gold Glove after winning two with Cleveland. Could these new rules help you win another in New York?

FL: I would love to. It would be amazing. I take a lot of pride in what I do, and, yeah, hopefully I get nominated first. We still have got a long year and a lot of things can happen, but if I win a Gold Glove it means I helped my teammates save runs and helped them get out of innings and I did my job.

Tylor Megill said he hugged you after a great defensive play you made in Miami. How rewarding was that?

FL:  That’s why I pride myself. The pitchers are working as hard as they can to work themselves out of a jam, if they get into one, or to execute a pitch. And when they execute it and get what they want, I want to finish it for them.

Even with dramatic shifting banned, you still move around a lot, depending on the batter. How important is that aspect of your defense?

FL:  I still have got my cards, and other departments here are still doing a good job of positioning us and then [infield coach] Joey Cora being on top of us. I’m preparing, and the analytics department is preparing us to be in the right position.

Broadcasters are adjusting to the pitch clock, too.

Howie Rose, the Mets’ longtime radio voice, said he struggled to find the right pace during last weekend’s opening series in Miami, but is now adjusting to the condensed time between pitches.

“Before, when you would call an at-bat, you kind of had your foot on the accelerator, but you were cruising, going 40-45 [mph],” Rose said. “And then when the ball is put in play, you press down on the accelerator, not necessarily flooring it, but you raise the tempo and the pace, but it was organic.

“What I found myself doing [last weekend] was basically keeping my foot on the floor through the entire at-bat … now the ball is in play and I’m trying to raise my tempo and there’s nowhere to go.”

Rose said he went back to the hotel after the Mets’ second game of the season and decided he needed to change his approach and take the pitch clock out of consideration, focusing more on when the ball is in play.

One fix that won’t be as easily remedied: Rose’s days of telling involved stories might be finished.

Rose said he had a story he tried to work into Tuesday’s broadcast on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination — it involved a link between former Mets first baseman Donn Clendenon and Dr. King (which also tied in with Jackie Robinson and Gil Hodges) — but he never found the space he needed to tell it.

“That’s something that might not change,” Rose said. “I just might have to learn to deal with it in terms of brevity, editing myself or just staying away from anything that might be too involved or intricate. … For me that’s tough.”

The former voice of the Islanders said he almost feels as if he’s returned to calling hockey because of the new pace. But in the end, Rose believes the pitch clock’s positives outweigh the negatives.

“All they did was eliminate dead time,” Rose said. “Somebody has to tell me why that’s a bad thing. Just go on YouTube and watch a game from 30 years ago and see how it flows, and tell me that wasn’t better than the last few years.”

Buck Showalter returned to his room at the famed Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee the other night and opened the door to the startling image of a tall silhouette lurking near his bed.

Keep in mind that much of the Pfister’s fame stems from whispers that the hotel is haunted.

But on this night, Showalter’s instincts told him it wasn’t a ghost in his room, but an intruder, and there would be an altercation.

Rewind to earlier in the night: Showalter had remarked offhandedly that if he didn’t have to return to the hotel to pack up, he might just sleep on a couch in the clubhouse at American Family Field because a day game was to follow. The Mets would head directly to the airport afterward.

The silhouette lurking in Showalter’s hotel room was Mets clubhouse manager Kevin Kierst, who took Showalter’s words at face value and was packing up Showalter’s suitcase so he could sleep at the ballpark.

Showalter was relieved to find out it was Kierst in his room and not an intruder.

He was just as relieved he hadn’t received a visit from the supernatural, joking he had the thought as he prepared for a possible tussle, “What if my hands go right through him?”