Few sports exist today the way baseball does; it lives so deeply within its own history that you don't have to squint hard to see ripples through time. A favorite line that traditionalists love to recite is that baseball is a game being played today the same way it was 100 years ago, which is becoming less true the further we get from the past.
Forget how medical science has rendered arguments comparing all-time great moot -- Babe Ruth and Shohei Ohtani might as well be from different planets let alone different eras. In recent years the fundemental fabric of the game has started to change with new rules altering the way the game is played today versus how it's always been played.
The pitch clock has sped games up in ways we've never seen before, while also impacting the approach of pitchers and batters. Other more sublte changes, like minumum batters a pitcher much face, have modified how managers do their jobs.
Connie Mack is shaking his fist from an Iowa cornfield as we speak.
Even bigger changes have happened and it seems Rob Manfred is trying to figure out even more. His most radical idea is to introduce a golden at-bat rule, which would allow a team to pick any hitter it wants and use him without needing to alter the lineup. It's strange, wild, and something players are trying to wrap their heads around as much as fans are.
Carlos Correa isn't afraid to share his thoughts on MLB's rumored golden at-bat rule change
Jayson Stark spoke to a handful of ballplayers about the potential new rule, and Correa was among them. He didn't push back on the rule, and even endorsed it in certain situations, but gave a diplomatic answer that wouldn't upset the clubhouse balance in Minnesota.
“My relievers are going to hate me if I say I agree with that one,” Correa said. “I can’t agree with that one because the relievers are going to be under really, really high stress all the time, and then the injuries are going to go even higher.”
He did, however, sugget that it's a fantastic idea for the All-Star Game.
“You’re onto something right there,” he said. “It’s fun, right? Just put whoever you want in the ninth inning to hit. That would be great. I love it.”
That's pretty much the general consensus on the rumored rule, as the idea is cool if it's not directly impacting a game that matters -- which isn't the hallmark of a good rule. Manfred is hellbent on modernizing the game but is doing it like how Homer Simpson tried to make a bizarre new car for the everyman.
Ghost runners on second seemed like a bridge too far and it's a miracle that ended up getting through the gatekeeping traditionalists who foam at the mouth over any whisper of change. Robot umpires are also bristling up against change for romantics who see the game through the lens of a Ken Burns documentary, which means altering the game this siginficantly probably won't fly.
Then again, we all thought changes like the pitch clock would never happen and here we are. Something as radical as being able to pinch hit a batter at any point in the game without altering the overall lineup seems like it flies in the spirit of the game a little too much, though.
There's a difference between preserving the game as it's been played for over a century and turning it into an arcade game; even the kindest reading of the reaction to this rule suggests it's another in a long line of terrible ideas from Manfred and MLB.
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