What Player Would You Have Someone Watch to Convince Them to Watch Baseball?

This is a cool thing to do on Twitter, but it got me thinking about in real life, who would you have somebody watch to convince him or her of the greatness of the game of baseball?

I used a GIF of Ronald Acuña smashing a 430-foot dinger with his signature flair, because the passion with which he plays the game is so infectious. I don't see how any neutral observer could watch him play and use the same old trope of how "boring" baseball is.

But who else could convince a non-baseball watcher to get into the game? Baseball is my favorite professional sport, so I get into this argument with people all the time who simply refuse to watch the sport because they've made up their minds that it just isn't for them.

So what kinds of things could you show people to get them into baseball?

Obviously the best player in the game. The things Mike Trout does routinely that just aren't supposed to be possible are mesmerizing. It's a shame he plays on a second-rate team on the west coast, because his greatness still goes under-appreciated. But have somebody watch Trout play a baseball game and tell me it isn't fun.

Another guy who plays the game the same way as Acuña. Every time you see Javier Baez on a baseball field, he's going all out and having a blast — and if he gets you, he's gonna let you know.

Another guy that fits in with the theme we've established. Francisco Lindor lives to play baseball. It's so much fun to watch guys that you know love doing what they're doing and you can certainly see that in Lindor.

And we have to throw one pitcher in there, because while everybody loves offense, watching someone throw a baseball with the velocity and movement a guy like Jacob deGrom does is mesmerizing. He's probably the best pitcher in the game right now, at least in my estimation. I have to watch this guy pitch against the Braves five or six times a year and I hate every second of it.

But if MLB is able to figure out ways to do more cool things like having players mic'd up at the All-Star Game and can continue to find ways to showcase the great personalities it has — something it has done a little better job of in the last couple years — I think we'll start to see the re-emergence of baseball popularity amongst younger people.

So what players would you have people watch to convince them to get into baseball?

Popular in the Community