David Ortiz still loves baseball, but he's got some issues with how the game is being played today.
The Boston Red Sox icon sounded off on the state of the sport during an interview with Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Ortiz feels that the homer-happy approach of hitters is ultimately hurting the product across all levels.
"To me, it's messed up," Ortiz told Abraham. "The game has changed a lot. Coaches only want kids to hit home runs and that's all they practice because they want to get paid.
"We used to want to develop great hitters. Now it's all strikeouts with some home runs and it's straight-up (f------) boring. If you could bet in Vegas that the next hitter was going to strike out, you'd take it every time."
"Everybody is swinging out of their ass," he added. "We used to be criticized for taking big swings in certain situations. Now that's all they want every time. It's hard to watch for me."
The rising home run and strikeout numbers came to a head in 2019 - the most recent 162-game season - when a record 6,776 homers were hit and 6.6% of plate appearances ended in a round-tripper. Though the home run rate fell by one-tenth of a percentage point in 2020, hitters still struck out in a record 23.4% of PA's during the pandemic-shortened campaign, the 13th straight season K rates increased.
After years of widespread suspicion of doctoring baseballs to increase power, MLB will reportedly slightly deaden balls to try to increase the number of balls in play. The league also hired former Red Sox and Chicago Cubs executive Theo Epstein as a consultant to work on the on-field product.
For Ortiz, whose 541 home runs rank 17th all time, these fixes aren't enough. The 45-year-old thinks the solution lies in the developmental system, where younger hitters should be taught to not just swing for the fences.
"I'm not saying you have to play small ball. But if somebody is in scoring position, you should adjust and not just try to run into one," Ortiz said. "Hitters give themselves up too easily. The game is more fun when there are people on the bases."
