Caputo: Embrace The Golden At Bat

Golden At Bat? Sounds like a Disney movie about a ragamuffin little league team on a mystical adventure.

Albeit a chucklesome sobriquet, it's nonetheless an intriguing idea.

An at bat each game for a selected hitter would enhance MLB.

Of course, baseball traditionalists are conditioned to abhor such suggestions under the guise it would bastardize their sacred game.

It would not. Rather it would represent progress in a continued attempt by MLB to pull its deeply-entrenched head from the sand.

Sports is entertainment, not an unencumbered ritual.

Imagine the NBA without the 24-second shot clock or 3-point line? The NFL literally moved the goal posts in the 1970s. There was no need for the red line in the NHL, which has also tweaked its overtime rules continuously.

Baseball has implemented a number of changes in recent seasons which have enhanced the sport. The pitch clock, banning the shift, limiting pickoff attempts and mound visits, three-hitter minimum for relievers and bigger bases have all been well-received. There remains understandable angst about the ghost runner in extra innings, but it's mixed.

The pace of the game has vastly improved.

Lowing the pitcher's mound to 10 inches from 15 was supposed to be the ruin of the game back in 1969. It wasn't. It was the right move. So was the designated hitter, which was widely vilified in 1973. Why would anyone want to see pitchers try to hit? It was like putting kickers at QB every ninth play.

Analytics are often cursed, but they have proven to be the most important equalizer between big market and small market franchises.

Baseball has a star problem. While there are numerous all-time greats in the midst of stellar careers, they are comparatively overlooked.

Implementing such a rule would put more shine on the stars. Patrick Mahomes isn't on the bench in the waning moments of a close game, LeBron James gets to take the money shot at the buzzer and Connor McDavid is there for the mad scramble at the end of a tight hockey tilt.

They can make the rule so that it can only be applied late in close games, adding compelling drama and strategy.

The inevitable whining about how it would be, "messing with baseball's stats'' is hogwash.

The best hitters have earned the right to a Golden At Bat via performance. So have the fans.

It'd be a shot in the arm. MLB could use such energy.