Rob Manfred is reportedly putting Bat Boys and Girls on notice for slowing down games and it feels so wrong
Major League Baseball just had what will undoubtedly be one of the best moments of its season when Mike Trout faced off against Shohei Ohtani in the World Baseball Classic.
Yes, I know. That’s not actually MLB baseball. But, at the same time, it got a lot of people excited about what could possibly be in store for this season. And that’s a good thing.
So, of course, Rob Manfred and baseball’s front office had to come and water down all that joy and goodwill with an absolutely ridiculous rule.
The league sent out memos with some slight tweaks to the rules, including many of which impacted the pitch clock and the speed of the game. ESPN’s Jeff Passan got a hold of the memo and shared details on it.
Among the rules were new standards for bat boys and bat girls around the league. Yes, apparently, if they’re too slow their jobs could be in jeopardy.
“New standards will be enforced for bat boys and bat girls, whose ability to quickly retrieve equipment will help efforts to speed up the game, according to the memo. The league will evaluate the performances of bat boys and bat girls and could ask teams to replace them if their performance is considered substandard.”
What an absolutely ridiculous rule, man. Like, seriously? Is the 14-year-old who took a little bit of extra time to replace a broken bat really the one slowing the game down? Come on, MLB. This isn’t a problem. Why threaten a good time like this?
It just feels cold, man. A little too cold — even for Rob Manfred, who is absolutely a supervillain. That’s the only way to describe someone who would audibly cackle during the temporary cancellation of their sport.
MLB fans were so miffed by the thought of this new rule. Rightfully so. It’s completely ridiculous.