NEWSLETTER
Tucked into the clarifications about the new rules as released by MLB, there was a note on bat boys and bat girls: shape up or ship out, kids!
Seriously. Bat kids are being evaluated for getting the boot if they don’t perform (ESPN):
New standards will be enforced for bat boys and bat girls, whose ability to quickly retrieve equipment will help efforts to speed up the game, according to the memo. The league will evaluate the performances of bat boys and bat girls and could ask teams to replace them if their performance is considered substandard.
Hey, I get the desire to not have bat kids slow things down to an unacceptable degree, and I also understand that there has to be SOME threshold of acceptable performance. But man, I really hope the standards aren’t set too high … these are KIDS we’re talking about, after all. The point is for them to have some fun, even as they serve a purpose.
No word, by the way, on how bat dog performances will be evaluated.
