Could Golden At-Bat give baseball a new shine?

A few weeks ago, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stopped by the podcast of Puck’s John Ourand and dropped hints about a rule change that seems like it might be coming someday to a ballpark near you.

“There are a variety of them that are being talked about out there,” Manfred said. “One of them — there was a little buzz around it at an owners meeting — was the idea of a Golden At-Bat.”

What is a Golden At-Bat? It is an idea that would change everything about how baseball — the ultimate team sport — has always worked.

What if a team could choose one at-bat in every game to send its best hitter to the plate even if it wasn’t that guy’s turn to hit? That’s the Golden At-Bat concept in a nutshell.

Say there are two outs in the 10th inning in October. The New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians are tied. In this alternate October universe, it’s not Juan Soto who is due up. It’s, say, Oswaldo Cabrera. Except the Yankees say: No, we’re going to use our Golden At-Bat here, and send up Soto. Then home run magic happens.

That would have been the ultimate Golden At-Bat homer, one front-office executive mused, as we were talking about this concept. “Can we send Juan Soto up there to do that? He actually did hit that homer in that moment.”

He did. And that’s the goal.

So should baseball change the rules to attempt to create more of those moments? That’s the question.

How would the rule work?

Baseball hasn’t settled on the details of how this rule would work. And MLB officials declined to speak with The Athletic about any possible future rule changes. But many variations have been tossed around. Here are some that I have heard.

— Each team gets to pick one at-bat — at any point in the game, but only once — to play its Golden At-Bat card. So would it save that card for The Juan Soto Moment? Or would it play it in the second inning, with the bases loaded and a chance to blow up a game?

— Each team gets one Golden At-Bat per game — but only in the seventh inning or later.

— Only a team that is trailing (or tied) in the ninth or later gets to use a Golden At-Bat.

One potential wrinkle: The Kansas City Royals use their Golden At-Bat to let Bobby Witt Jr. lead off the ninth. He makes an out. But who’s batting second? Whaddaya know, it’s Witt’s turn in the lineup. So here he comes again. Yes, that could be a thing.

Could this really happen?

On Ourand’s podcast, Manfred described this idea (and others) as being “in the conversation-only stage right now.” So that makes it sound iffy — except for one thing: He chose to talk about this out loud, where everyone could hear it.

He also used the word “buzz” to describe the response. Which is interesting, because from what I can discern, it’s not the buzziest buzz in the baseball cosmos at the moment.

It’s clearly not as buzzy as the electronic strike zone, anyway. It wasn’t a topic at the owners meetings that were held in the past two weeks. And there is no evidence that this concept has even been presented to the players at any meeting of the competition committee.

In the minor leagues, folks have heard “buzz” that the league would like to test the Golden At-Bat in some form in the minors sometime in the next couple of years.

So, if any variation of the Golden At-Bat does surface next year, here’s where I’d guess you would see it: in the MLB All-Star Game.

Manfred also dropped that breadcrumb on Ourand’s podcast. When the conversation veered toward possible tweaks to that game, Manfred tipped his golf cap to his TV partners at Fox Sports, saying, “They’re always thinking. They’re never short of ideas. And they are reasonable.”

So, what All-Star Game ideas had gotten his attention?

“Most of the changes we have discussed,” he said, “involve producing the matchups, in the context of an exhibition game, that the fans want to see the most. You know, more freedom in terms of substitution and whatnot. I am receptive to those ideas, in the context of an exhibition game.”

Are players ready for the Golden At-Bat?

I surveyed players about this five months ago. I asked them first about trying it in the All-Star Game, then flipped to regular-season games.

When I asked Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich about how he felt about three starters reentering the All-Star Game in the late innings, his face lit up.

“That would be kind of cool,” he 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.”

But when I asked if he would be open to something like the Golden At-Bat in regular-season games, his wheels started spinning.

“I’d have to see it more,” he replied, but didn’t rule anything out.

Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa was equally cool with the All-Star Game version.

“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.”

But what about the regular season? He looked directly into my eyeballs, as if he were searching for a window into what kind of trouble I was trying to lure him into.

“My relievers are going to hate me if I say I agree with that one,” he finally replied. “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.”

Philadelphia Phillies reliever Matt Strahm agreed instantly that the All-Star Game idea was a good one. But what about in a game that counts?

“I wouldn’t like that,” he said without hesitation. “Nah, that messes with baseball history too much. I don’t like that one.”

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman wasn’t quite on board with the All-Star Game idea: “I’m going to fight against that, because they’re all All-Stars, and I wouldn’t mind anybody hitting.”

And in the regular season?

“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 going to go no.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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