All-Star Week Needs A Cool Catch Contest

On Monday night, Major League Baseball gathered together all the big boys with their big bats from around the league to show off for us. And they did! Cal "Big Dumper" Raleigh showed off the most, and so he won.

Every year, MLB gets all these big boys with their big bats, and they line them up on national television and ask them to hit baseballs one million miles. This is cool. I like to watch this! I am in no way a Home Run Derby hater, because I think it's fun when guys who play games for a living get to play games for fun.

But you know what else I thought was fun? In the final round of the Derby last night, one of the teens shagging fly balls in the outfield went a little too hard and robbed one of Junior Caminero's home runs. Look how he just pops up and snags it from over the wall! So fun!

Before anyone gets all upset about this, MLB still counted the home run (which is kind of baby behavior if you think about it, but after it felt like a call came in from Jersey to make sure that Cal Raleigh got into the second round by an inch, it was probably right to let the robbed home run stand). Regardless, the catch really emphasized that the only skill showcase we get at the All-Star Game is the dinger competition. On Tuesday night, they play a regular game, and we will see who wins that. But we will never get to see which of the guys is the speediest, sneakiest guy who can stretch himself long across the air as if gravity doesn't apply to him and snatch a ball from its freefall. MLB denies us this pleasure!

I do not think that showing off should be only for the big boys with the big bats. The fast jumpy guys should also get to show off. There have been so many incredible, beautiful defensive plays this season. I've already blogged about a couple of home run robberies by the Padres alone. But there have been more incredible catches this season than I could possibly blog.

There was Denzel Clarke's robbery against the Angels, where he almost flipped over the fence. And Jeff McNeil's kind of derpy robbery against the Braves. And Aaron Judge's tall-guy robbery in July. And there was the almost-robbery that Jorge Mateo had back in May that would have been so cool if he had hung onto it.

And that's to say nothing of all of the beautiful, gorgeous diving catches that outfielders have made this year. Johan Rojas sacrificed his body for a ball in May. Riley Greene made a great catch last week. And here's Jo Adell this past Sunday:

Not every outfielder can be Willie Mays (a Bill, you might say). They cannot all be excellent at the plate and in the field. The Home Run Derby rewards only one side of play. We should have another event to reward defensive tricks!

This could be accomplished easily. You could simply fire up the fly-ball machine, and whoever travels the furthest and catches their balls the most dramatically wins. Or, if you are worried about injuries (which would be fair), the players could jump into a giant foam pit and be judged solely on style points, for all I care. Just let them lay out for the ball. They could even do it on a slip and slide! It could be so silly, just like the Home Run Derby.

Plus, if you're adding a diving catch and/or a jumping catch competition, you might as well add a bunting competition. And at that point, let's steal bases too. And why not let the players see which ones of them can turn a double play the fastest. Why not, as my coworker Chris suggested, let the players do Top Golf but for directional hitting? As a treat!

The National Hockey League has a skills competition like this. They test how fast the guys can skate, how well they can pass, how accurately they can shoot the puck into the goal, and all sorts of other stuff. The winner gets a million dollars!

Baseball could have one of these too, but if they are unwilling to create this kind of infrastructure, they should at least add one competition for outfielders. It's just as fun to watch a home run get stolen as it is to watch someone hit one.