Theo Epstein is trying to curb his obsession with baseball analysis, which he helped.
Epstein, former architect of the Red Sox and Cubs World Series champions, has been tasked by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to bring the game back to a more aesthetically pleasing product from a competitive perspective.
he Spoke with John Greenberg of The Athletic On his belief that change is an example of a runaway “intellectualism”.
“I think this shift is an example of intellectualism gone too far in the game,” he said.
“It’s the better game when it comes to whether or not the front office has the best algorithms, but whether or not the second baseman is on the island and you have a big left-handed hitter and you can get great breaks on the ball. , move to his left, dive in, take your feet off, play clean, stand up and throw the guy out.
“It’s about being in the middle of the action, where the player should be.”
Hiring Epstein to enhance the action of a game is akin to a casino hiring an ex-cheat to pinpoint mistakes in the process.
In addition to shift bans, there’s a new pitch clock that shaves 20-25 minutes off your average spring training game.
In late February, a mashup video by MLB analyst Rob Friedman went viral, depicting Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack throwing one more pitch than Guardians pitcher Pedro Baez against Epstein’s Cubs in the 2016 World Series. It was shown that he threw the inning fast.
The video has been viewed over 4 million times.
“It’s usually your die-hard fans who watch spring training,” Epstein told The Athletic.
“Your casual fans don’t watch much spring training, but they watch videos of[the Dodgers and Padres]playing an entire half inning in the time it takes Pedro Baez to throw one pitch in ’16. The NLCS ironically cut out the camera at one point in a very frustrating way at the GM box.
“But yeah, those viral moments helped bring attention to it.”
