ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit is always happy to give his thoughts on a topic, whether he's an expert on it or not. Though in the case of baseball, perhaps he should have left his hot take in the oven.
On Monday, Herbstreit took to X to share a recent rant that New York Yankees legend Jorge Posada went on about the state of baseball. The former Yankees catcher declared that he can't even watch baseball these days because they've become too analytical.
Herbstreit strongly agreed with Posada's message and proceeded to go on a little rant about baseball. He called out the sport for various changes and declared that the sport has been "dying with the youth of America for years" before calling for the return of "small ball and athleticism."
"THANK YOU!!!!! Where did the athletic ability go? Clutch hitting in the 8th and 9th inning? Starting pitching that goes 8 or 9 innings? Base stealing-hell just good base running and SPEED?!? Sac bunts-moving runners over late in a game? Where’s Tony Gwynn? Rod Carew? Wade Boggs? Ichiro? Those guys wouldn’t exist in today’s ridiculous HR or K “launch angle” game! The game has been dying with the youth of America for YEARS and now is losing the core fanbase as well with this ridiculous product we’ve had to digest for the last 7-10 years. Bring back Small Ball and athleticism…this (expletive) dreadful!!!" Herbstreit wrote.
The Pushback
As passionate as Herbstreit may be about the topic, fans had plenty of holes to poke in his argument, ranging from viewership numbers to records being set.
"brother the greatest player of all-time exists right now and you’re complaining about no tony gwynn lmao," one user on X replied.
"'where are the stolen bases?' the highest amount of bases stolen in a season collectively was 3617 and it happened all the way back in…. 2024. like brother please..." wrote another.
"This guy doesn’t (expletive) watch baseball. Steals and baserunning are back in a huge way with the pitch clock and larger bases," a third wrote.
© Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
"Kirk, there were more stolen bases the last two years than any two year stretch ever. Also, sac bunt attempts are typically a net negative. Still love ya though, buddy."
"Baseball is now more watchable that at any point since the 1990s. I'm sorry Posada had to spend most of his career in the vast wasteland that was early 2000s MLB."
Of course, there are plenty of people who agree with Herbstreit that the game has changed for the worse. But the numbers - at least as far as ratings go - suggest that their opinion is increasingly becoming the minority.
