MLB's Golden Bat idea is well...batty.

[Yavin4]

If you haven't heard, MLB is considering allowing teams to allow their best hitter to bat of order for one time only during a game before the 7th inning. Not only is this dumb for several reasons, but pitchers would just walk the hitter.

[The Madcap]

1. Whoever is making all these stupid rule change proposals

Is going to ruin baseball forever. Before long, it will be just as goofy as the other major sports and pro wrestling.

[Fla Dem]

2. Had no idea what the Golden Bat idea is and you didn't explain, so I looked it up. Hope this helps others.

Most changes have been a smashing success. They include the pitch clock and a limit on pitching changes to greatly speed up the game and larger bases and banning the shift to increase the action with the ball in play. Other rules like the ghost runner in extra innings have been begrudgingly accepted from purists that may feel it goes too far in tinkering with the purity of the sport.

Well, these rule changes have nothing on what Rob Manfred says MLB is considering next. In a Puck podcast with John Ourand, Manfred said there is buzz around the idea of a “golden at-bat” amongst MLB owners. What is a “golden at-bat” exactly? Jayson Stark at The Athletic explains:

What if a team could choose one at-bat in every game to send its best hitter to the plate even if it wasn’t that guy’s turn to hit? That’s the Golden At-Bat concept in a nutshell.
Say there are two outs in the 10th inning in October. The Yankees and Guardians are tied. Does this ring a bell at all? But in this alternate October universe, it’s not Juan Soto who is due up. It’s, say, Oswaldo Cabrera. Except the Yankees say: No, no, no. We’re going to use our Golden AB here … and send up Soto. Then home run magic happens.

Everyone was mesmerized when Shohei Ohtani squared off with Mike Trout with the title on the line in the World Baseball Classic. But given the constant turnover in a baseball lineup, those kind of key matchups and moments are few and far between. So what if baseball could manufacture that kind of game-defining moment by allowing a team to bring their best hitter up regardless of where they are in the lineup once per game?

https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/considering-golden-at-bat-rule-transform-baseball.html

[malthaussen]

13. "Home run magic" is, in a nutshell, exactly what's wrong with the game...

... but if the fans want scoring and "action" in their games, and it puts asses in the seats and money in the team's pockets, that's their business. I don't have to watch it, and don't.

-- Mal

[brush]

3. What if the bases are loaded?

I don't like the move but it's typical of MLB's bad decisions, for instance an electronic strike zone and replay review of close plays at the bases, including home plate, should've been instituted decades ago.

Instead we get base size increased to that of a pizza box...like that was needed after 100 some years of playing the game.

[DJ Synikus Makisimus]

4. It's BS like this that drove me away from baseball.

I watch cricket (usually cricket-20, but also other forms of LOC and test matches) these days. The streaming service called Willow TV has a near monopoly on world cricket matches.

[Diamond_Dog]

5. Instead of coming up with these crazy shit new rules,

Fix The Revenue Sharing!!!!!!

[rsdsharp]

6. We're playing Mighty Manfred ball, not baseball.

This is what happens when you put someone who dislikes baseball in charge of baseball!

[jmowreader]

7. If they do that...

...they also need to allow the defending team one free substitution of a relief pitcher.

You KNOW what's going to happen:

"And now the Cincinnati Reds use their Golden At Bat to send Elly De La Cruz to the plate!"
"Hello bullpen? Send out that pitcher that Elly De La Cruz can't hit."

[AllaN01Bear]

8. one of my pet beefs with " pro sports"

is that when it is a "team", and then relys on one person, it is not a team. this does not compute .

[Wounded Bear]

9. I've supported many of the recent rule changes, but this goes too far IMHO...nt

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Exactly Where I'm At

I think the pitch clock was good.
I think encouraging the steal was good.
I think restricting shifts was good. (The shift turned the game into homerun derby).
This idea is plain ridiculous.

[LudwigPastorius]

10. That is messing with the fabric of the game.

[PufPuf23]

11. Many changes in MLB are driven by legalized gambling and the revenue stream provided Owners.

The "Golden Bat" is this trend on steroids.

[sakabatou]

14. What? No roller blade included?

[alarimer]

15. It's just to ensure Judge and Ohtani get more at-bats and TV time.

As if the Yankees and Dodgers aren't ALREADY favored in most matchups and also get the most prime time TV slots.

If this idea happens in real games, I'm done with baseball. It might as well all be Banana-ball (Savannah Bananas).

I'd also expect an intentional walk each and every time this "golden bat" was deployed.

[Polybius]

16. Ya all hated on Bud Selig for looking the other way with steroids, but I miss him dearly

I'll embrace steroids any day over the crazy rules that this commissioner has implemented.

[WestMichRad]

17. Baseball already has a golden bat rule.

It’s called a pinch hitter.

You want to send up your best hitter at a key moment in the game, keep him on the bench, ready to pinch hit. Letting someone already in the game bat out of order… No. Just no.

The idiots pushing this rule change are doing it to enhance gambling opportunities. F* that!

[Harker]

18. I've missed a lot of rule changes since I last watched a baseball game.

I hear there are lights in Wrigley, interleague play, and now there's a pitch clock for antsy people who get bored easily.

This golden bat rule sounds like something an eight year old would come up with for a sandlot game.

[True Dough]

19. Thumbs up

to the Silver Slugger. That's worthwhile.

But the "Golden Bat"? Rob Manfred can take that and stick it up his rear end, SIDEWAYS!