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Major League Baseball has undergone a slew of rule changes during Rob Manfred‘s tenure, and the MLB commissioner might have the craziest one yet up his sleeve: the golden at-bat.
Manfred explained it a few weeks ago in an appearance on John Ourand's The Varsity podcast, where he said the proposal has some buzz among MLB owners. Essentially, the golden at-bat would grant teams one AB per game that any hitter can take, regardless of their spot in the order. This would not be similar to a switch hitter — the batter taking the golden at-bat would remain in the game afterward at his normal position and spot in the order.
While it's still unknown exactly how this rule would work, Jayson Stark of The Athletic outlined some possibilities. One would be to limit the golden at-bat to the seventh inning or later. Another would be to only allow it in the ninth inning if a team is trailing.
Stark also raised the possibility of a batter taking the golden at-bat, getting on base, then immediately coming up to the plate again with their regular turn in the order. None of this is official just yet — and it may never be — so for now, it's just useful for some fun speculation.
MLB players react to the proposed golden at-bat rule
Stark spoke to players about the possibility of a golden at-bat rule at the 2024 MLB All-Star Game, first seeing if they would be interested in implementing it for the annual exhibition.
“That would be kind of cool,” the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich said. “I mean, it’s an exhibition game after all, right? So you want to keep it to where it’s a game, but also, if you want to add a wrinkle that makes it more entertaining, or do stuff geared for the fans and keep the entertainment value high, I’m all for it.”
Yelich added that he'd be open to the idea of adding the rule to regular MLB games but would have to see it play out first.
Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was more skeptical about the idea.
“My relievers are going to hate me if I say I agree with that one,” he 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.”
Correa added that if the rule is implemented, then opposing teams should also be allowed to bring in whichever pitcher they want.
Eventual World Series MVP Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers was even more against the idea.
“No, no, no,” he said. “I’m old school, you know, even as a young guy. I like baseball. I’m a baseball purist. So I’m gonna go no.”
