MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Faces Backlash Over New Batboy and Batgirl Rules

By | Bullscore 23 Mar, 2023

Oh boy, do we have news about Major League Baseball! Rob Manfred, the league’s commissioner, has been catching some heat from fans for the way he’s been handling things lately. But just when we thought things might be turning around with the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Manfred goes and makes some more questionable decisions.

In new memos sent out to MLB teams on Wednesday, Manfred outlined some changes to the league’s rules. While some of them were minor tweaks, a couple of things caught our eye. First, there’s a change to the replay review rules when challenging violations of the infield shift ban, and some adjustments to the 30-second between-batters clock, the 2-minute, 30-second between-innings clock, and the hitter’s time-out clock.

But here’s where things get interesting (and not in a good way). Manfred is now putting batboys and batgirls on notice, which means that their jobs are in jeopardy if they’re not up to par. The league will now be evaluating their performance and could ask teams to replace them if they’re not deemed good enough.

Now, we get that speeding up the game is important, but is this really the way to do it? Fans are not happy about this news, and it’s not hard to see why. The 2023 World Baseball Classic had done so much to repair the damage that had been done to MLB’s reputation, and now this news has put a damper on things.

Imagine Rob Manfred calling 12 year old Sally and firing her. https://t.co/8aLlCT3GBv pic.twitter.com/HEsx7eCByW
— Packrip Mahoments – Spencer (@PackripMahoment) March 22, 2023

OK so this absolutely blows. You've already cut the average game time by like 40 minutes. Stop putting unnecessary pressure on kids to save an extra 8 seconds. Honestly nobody cares https://t.co/6FWgu17AX5 pic.twitter.com/xjeeom70fn
— Ethan Fisher (@efisher330) March 22, 2023

https://twitter.com/HenrySchilling/status/1638571726220013569

It’s not just about the game being sped up, it’s about the experience as a whole. Batboys and batgirls are an important part of that experience, and it’s not fair to them to be put under this kind of pressure. It’s hard enough to do your job well, let alone when you’re worried about losing it.

So, come on, Manfred. Let’s focus on making things better for everyone involved, not just trying to speed things up at the expense of the people who make the game possible. Let’s hope that this decision gets reconsidered, and fast.