A committee was formed in the last week to find the next commissioner, who — when elected — should make his first priority to form a committee to look into this radical thought:
How do we get folks talking about, you know, the baseball players again?
We are nearly to Memorial Day, and the major league conversation has been dominated by Tommy John surgeries, the shift, instant replay and defining home-plate collisions. You want to throw in the reality show that will be finding the next commissioner, fine.
It just means baseball remains the sport in which we talk about history, semantics (the unwritten rules of the game), rules and trends more than the current players. Regardless of the record dollars coming into the sport, that bodes poorly for the game’s future.
I guess the good news is that the off-the-field issue that had enwrapped — and tortured — the game for most of the past decade (steroids) is not quite the talking point it had been. Where have you gone, Alex Rodriguez?
Still, the more we discuss the pros and cons of the shift means the less we are asking would you take Andrew McCutchen or Giancarlo Stanton if you were starting a team, or marveling at the all-round genius that is Mike Trout or debating who is the best defensive third baseman in the majors — Nolan Arenado vs. Adrian Beltre vs. Manny Machado, anybody? I hope a Josh Donaldson or Evan Longoria fan just got angry about that last part because it means people still are passionate about the current players.
Because the game just can’t be trapped in nostalgia and rules and expect any new commissioner will be able to recruit and hold future generations of fans. I think one of the carryovers from labor unrest and distrust is that MLB never has done well promoting its stars to LeBron/Peyton levels — pumping up the players meant having to pay them. Well, the wallet is out of the pocket. The players are being paid quite handsomely; time to push the most important part of the product more aggressively. That is the players.
Yet — let the hypocrisy flow — I have some thoughts on the off-field issues, with some suggestions to hopefully improve the product:
Tommy John surgery
Texas’ Martin Perez became the 19th pitcher since the outset of spring who needed the procedure. The epidemic levels have generated many inquiries and theories on why so many, especially young hurlers, are having their elbows break.
I believe it is a confluence of reasons, but I want to center on one I believe is not only hurting young arms but also the game. And — sorry in advance — I am looking at you, Mom and Dad.
I admit this is anecdotal, based mainly on talking to amateur scouts. But parents are trying to figure out how they get their prodigy scholarships or a major league shot.
“If little Timmy throws 90 mph,” one scout said, “he will get a college scholarship or get drafted out of high school.”
The question is: Should little Timmy be throwing 90 as a teenager before full development of his body?
This quest has led to youngsters 1) being pushed to throw year round (which hurts development of the rounded athlete) and 2) putting too much duress on undeveloped arms (add sliders and the long-term risk for damage becomes worse). Already, baseball was losing too many high-end athletes to other sports. Now, the best athletes are concentrating on pitching rather than playing positions.
The ramifications are being felt in the majors. You have more hard throwers than ever, and fewer and fewer guys being groomed to hit them. Ask an amateur scout about trying to find hitters in the upcoming draft. Yep, plenty of guys throwing 90 mph-plus (and beginning the process toward Tommy John) and fewer guys who can hit such heat. That combination is at the heart of the declining offense in the majors, and the lack of well-hit balls in play leads to more boring games and hurts the marketability of the sport.
Mom and Dad, let your kid play shortstop.
The shift
I remember it like I was learning a secret code, being brought into a special fraternity by my dad. He was my older brother’s Little League manager, and my dad let me keep the scorebook, but to do that I had to be taught that the pitcher was 1, the catcher 2, etc. I had to learn a groundout to third base was 5-3, etc.
It was the gift that kept on giving for a child who would grow up to cover baseball for a living. Until now, anyway.
Because what does 5-3 mean any longer if the third baseman is shifted to the right side of the infield, playing where I used to register 4-3 on a groundout? When Derek Jeter catches a pop up in foul territory as the lone infielder on the left side, does 6 — or even my own nomenclature of P6, pop to short — really explain a play that was the responsibility of the third baseman for more than a century?
Consider in the Subway Series finale: On consecutive batters in the second inning, Curtis Granderson grounded out to third baseman Yangervis Solarte playing to the right of second base and Chris Young grounded out to second baseman Brian Roberts playing to the left of second base. So writing 5-3 and 4-3, respectively, told me little about what actually happened. I have taken to putting an L (left) or R (right) to signify where the fielder was stationed, but there are even nuances within this as fielders move to specific areas for individual hitters.
We need a new scoring system to deal with this new reality. I am sending out an S-O-S to you, dear readers.
Replay
There are kinks that need to be ironed out in replay and it always will remain frustratingly imperfect, but in the big picture 133 calls that would have been wrong for the first hundred-plus years of the sport’s history were made right.
Still, pace of game remains an issue, and we can speed up this process a bit. One way would be to have the crew chief wear an earpiece at all times rather than having two umpires walk over to the side, put on headsets, wait for a call then return to the field. Saving even 15-30 seconds on a process that is taking on average about two minutes would be worthwhile.