BOSTON – The potential of Major League Baseball implementing a Golden At-Bat is a topic Commissioner Rob Manfred recently discussed The University podcast with John Ourand.
The Golden At-Bat would essentially allow a team to use its best hitter for one at-bat per game, regardless of where in the lineup.
“There’s a variety of things that are being talked about out there. One of them, there was quite a bit of buzz at the owners’ meetings, was the idea of a Golden At-Bat,” Manfred told Ourand. “That’s putting your best player out of order at a particular time in the game. That rule and things like that are in the conversation stage right now.”
The veteran Red Sox pitcher Liam Hendricks not a fan of the idea.
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“It’s a terrible idea. It’s horrible,” Hendriks said Thursday during a community event at the Boston Athletic Academy.
Why?
“You’re just changing the whole (nature) of the game,” said Hendriks, 35, who entered the league in 2011 and has 116 career saves. “The pitch clock is what it is and other little things like that. But now you’re changing the whole (nature) of the game. And it’s just another way to add offense. At the end of the day, it all seems to lean heavily toward on offense instead of pitching or defense or anything for him I think what you have to do is pay guys to get on base hits and high averages when you start doing that all of a sudden those guys they’re getting on base and that’s a pain in the (expletive).”