Former Brewers All-Star is not a fan of Rob Manfred’s asinine “Golden At-Bat” rule

There are a lot of topics that baseball fans love to fight and disagree with each other about. The universal DH, the infield fly rule, bat flips...the list goes on and on. However, the reception to the recently floated "Golden At-Bat" rule by Rob Manfred has been almost universally negative far and wide including from a former Milwaukee Brewers All-Star.

It has been a while since Brewers fans have had to think about Jonathan Lucroy at all as he played on the team from 2010-2016 before, like so many other Milwaukee players who were about to command real money, getting traded to the Rangers at the trade deadline. Up until that point, Lucroy was one of the best hitting catchers in baseball.

Unfortunately, Lucroy's career tailed off pretty severely after that and he bounced around the league a bit before playing his final MLB game in 2021. However, he still found time during his well-earned retirement recently to chime in on Manfred's proposed rules change that has everyone in a tizzy.

Former Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy truly hates Manfred's proposed "Golden At-Bat" rule

In fairness to Manfred, a lot of the rules changes that have gone into effect under his watch have been mostly positive. The pitch clock certainly made games move faster, although we don't really know yet how much it is impacting injuries to arms yet. The running game has opened up a bit with the new pickoff rules and slightly larger bases (with the latter also being a great player safety change). The ghost runner rule kinda stinks, but it has prevented teams from obliterating their bullpens with 18 inning marathons. Not all change is strictly bad.

Lucroy's reputation as a bit of a crank these days notwithstanding, this particular change is a pretty uniquely crummy idea. Fielding a deep roster and building a lineup correctly are two things that probably need to remain integral to the game of baseball. Under Manfred's proposed rules change, each team (in varying circumstances depending on what the final rule looked like) would get the opportunity to basically pinch hit once per game for a hitter with any other hitter in the lineup. You think you are about to get out of a bases loaded jam against a #8 hitter? Sorry, you are now facing Aaron Judge.

There are other problems as well. It would create problems for baseball's history books as star hitters would likely get dozens of more plate appearances than they normally would. Such players would also command more money as a result as well and leave the market for bench players and even lefty/righty bullpen specialists in a pretty bad spot. All in all, it seems like a rule created by people that don't watch baseball at all.

Should Manfred be looking at rules changes to improve the game and make it a more enjoyable experience for fans? Absolutely. It sounds like a balls and strikes challenge system is coming and, assuming the technology is ready and it doesn't create lengthy game delays, that will be a welcome change. As for the Golden At-Bat rule, Lucroy is right to show his disdain.

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