Before a pitch clock rejuvenated MLB, speeding up action and bringing fans back to ballparks, it shook up the Home Run Derby.
This year’s bit of potential rule-related foreshadowing will come in the All-Star Futures Game (Saturday, 7 pm ET, Peacock), when AL and NL prospects face off. As has been the case at all 30 Triple-A ballparks this season, the automated balls and strikes challenge system will be in effect for the game.
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Each team will be able to challenge two calls, with those reviews being initiated by players (rather than managers) tapping their helmet or hat.
While the technology is fast enough to be used on every pitch, players have supported a challenge system instead, in part because it preserves the importance of pitch framing as a skill. It also adds an entertainment factor as fans get to debate whether a pitch should be challenged, and see the result of those decisions in real time.
There are still hurdles to getting the video-assisted umpire system adopted at the game’s top level. But however Saturday’s game goes, Monday’s Home Run Derby will provide the latest example that positive changes can be made without sacrificing what makes something great.
In 2015, then-MLB COO (and current Big Ten commissioner) Tony Petitti led the charge to institute a time limit for the sluggers, rather than having a set number of “outs.” Inspired by March Madness, the league also instituted a bracket system.
ESPN learned about the new format only weeks in advance, but instantly bought in. “Anytime somebody comes with a suggestion to like, let’s call it ‘gimmick it up’ or whatever, I’m extremely hesitant,” ESPN VP for MLB production Phil Orlins said this week, “because the foundation of this event is that people compete to win.” Still, he added, “we did need the pace improvement.”
Mother nature pushed things further. With rain in the forecast in Cincinnati that year, MLB shortened the rounds from five minutes to four, leading to an even more explosive event that was ultimately won by Reds third baseman Todd Frazier.
“Sometimes you get to the right place with a little luck,” Petitti said after the fact.
In an era of infinite highlights and interleague action, All-Star festivities have struggled to maintain their grip on fans. The NBA’s All-Star Saturday night events, including the dunk contest, drew a record low 3.4 million viewers this year. The NFL’s revamped “Pro Bowl Games” this year garnered 6.28 million, a 5% dip from the previous year’s more traditional version. Only a pandemic-era virtual version of the event amassed a smaller audience since 2006.
But the Derby has held steady. Last year’s event attracted 6.88 million longball watchers, down 3.5% from 2021 but up compared to the average of the previous six occasions. In fact, the exhibition closed the gap with the actual All-Star Game, which drew 7.51 million a day later.
Years before doing the same with every game, the league managed to improve the pace of action without disrupting the contest’s core appeal.
“I think we take for granted—and it goes back to the Babe Ruth days—everybody’s infatuation with home runs,” ESPN Derby announcer Karl Ravech said. “There is something about a home run, and a home run champion, that resonates with people.”
We may soon see how attached fans are to humans deciding balls and strikes.
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