If MLB Knew What Was Good for It, It'd Mic Up Players During the Regular Season

ESPN has been doing prolonged sessions with players mic'd during its spring training broadcasts and the results have been incredible.

Last week, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant were mic'd up for several innings and produced several clips that went viral on social media.

It's such great exposure for baseball to have these players interacting with the broadcasters in the booth and having moments like Freddie Freeman telling the audience the wind was going to take what looked to be a sure popout and turn it into an RBI single and then watching it happen.

Major League Baseball gets the reputation of being boring and slow and has the ability to do things like this, which would help its perception and popularity immensely, yet refuses to do so. And I completely understand the logistical challenges of doing something like this, especially when players would be reticent to potentially lose a bit of focus during games that actually count. But it seems to me somebody could surely figure out a way to make this happen that would work for everybody.

Maybe you only do it during getaway day games, when everybody is mailing it in anyway. Or only turn the earpieces and mics on when players are on base and in the field. However you could do it, this seems like such a fun way to have more people engaging with the sport of baseball and its players.

MLB has guys like Freeman who could be so much more popular nationally if they had more of a chance to showcase their personalities in a way which is appealing to the social media audience sports have today. Maybe with the popularity these segments have had this spring, MLB will take a closer look at potentially doing more things like this during the regular season.

In a sport which plays 162 games over six months, any opportunity to create more fun and engagement should be looked at.