Rob Manfred's silly Golden At-Bat suggestion

Commissioner Rob Manfred receives a lot — and I really mean a lot, at times — of criticism from MLB fans. Much of it is deserved; he’s made some terrible decisions during his tenure and has shown on more than one occasion that he’s truly working for the owners first (which, by the way, IS the job of commissioner).

MLB has seen plenty of changes during Manfred’s tenure that have proven positive: expanded playoffs, the universal DH, even adding the pitch clock.

One of the biggest complaints about Manfred, however, is that he clearly doesn’t enjoy the sport he’s responsible for shepherding.

Now, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that other ideas for potential changes to the game are discussed in MLB’s New York offices. A sign of any thriving organization is its willingness to continually grow, adapting to draw new fans (customers). For the league and 30 ownership groups, baseball is still a business after all. The latest rumored idea that Manfred & Co. have kicked around, however, is simply ridiculous.

It also has a very small chance of realistically happening, yet much of the baseball world has been talking about it for days.

Manfred first floated the idea of the “Golden At Bat” during an appearance on The Varsity podcast with John Ourand in October. Most of baseball media ignored it (or didn’t hear it, since the episode released on the same day as Game 6 of the NLCS) until The Athletic’s Jayson Stark revisited the subject this week and one particular quote is getting a lot of the focus:

Essentially, the idea is suggesting that teams could, at any point in the game, put whatever player they wanted up at the plate regardless of who was slated to hit next in the lineup.

Baseball media members like Ken Rosenthal and Mike Francesca have voiced their dislike of the idea. Numerous players have shared similar concerns (Stark even talked to a few in his article, none of whom supported it as anything beyond a potential fun change for the All-Star Game).

The idea is silly, to put it mildly. In an exhibition setting? Sure, maybe it could be fun. But to seriously consider making this a part of the everyday game? Forget it. Those postseason moments when someone completely unexpected and unheralded steps up and makes themselves a hero forever are reason enough to avoid a stupid rule that would eliminate their possibility of existing. That’s a line I can’t see anyone allowing to happen.

The Golden Batter Rule already exists in Banana Ball. It can and should remain there.