Sluggball Attempts To Reunite Former Players With Love For Hitting

Kenny Lofton’s game was predicated on getting on base, stealing bases and playing great defense.

Some might argue that Lofton did those things so well during his 17-year career as a center fielder in the major leagues from 1991-2007 that he should be in the Hall of Fame. His credentials are strong: a .299 lifetime batting average, 2,428 hits, 622 stolen bases and four Gold Gloves.

However, Lofton has seen the game change during the 17 years since he last played. In his mind, the changes haven’t been for the good. “You don’t see situational hitting anymore,” Lofton said. “That’s what I did. Now the game of baseball is all about home runs, home runs, home runs. A lot of the excitement has been taken out of the game.”

Lofton and former Cleveland teammate Ruben Amaro Jr. are trying to bring situational hitting back to baseball with Sluggball. Sluggball is a reimagined version of baseball designed to reignite former players’ passion for hitting. Sluggball features four-on-four situational hitting format with a proprietary patent-pending scoring system.

Sluggball already has six competitions scheduled for this year in minor-league stadiums in New Jersey, New York and Ohio.

Amaro and his brother David Amaro are the cofounders of Sluggball and Lofton is an advisor along with Evan Kaplan, the managing director of MLB Players, Inc. Brand collaborators include the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, Victus Bats and Blast Motion.

Ruben Amaro Jr. hopes that Sluggball can give retired players a chance to compete in the sport as it will not include such physically demanding aspects of the game as baserunning and fielding.

“Former players had no real accessible options like this type of experience, like they have with pickleball, or Top Golf,” Amaro said. “The player who played in high school competitively, or the kid that played (college baseball) competitively, and no longer can play baseball … where do they go? What does he have to do?”

A test run of Sluggball was conducted last September at Trenton Thunder Ballpark in New Jersey. Six teams of players with a wide range of baseball experiences and ages competed in Sluggball’s four directional-hitting rounds – pull side, up the middle, opposite field and around the horn.

Sluggball focuses entirely on hitting. Teams of six-to-eight players bring their own pitcher and compete in situational challenges using wood bats. Events guarantee two four-round games a team with championship teams competing for cash prizes. Participants and guests also receive club-level food and bar service, exclusive on-field gear and a chance to meet former MLB players.

Sluggball’s official debut is scheduled for May 10 in Trenton. Other events are scheduled for Columbus, Ohio (June 14), Niles, Ohio (July 13), Trenton (Aug. 24), Staten Island, N.Y. (Sept. 13) and Avon, Ohio (Oct. 11).

“When I talked with some of the guys who played, it felt sort of like for me when I went back to the clubhouse as a coach after years and years and years in the front office,” said Amaro, who after a stint as the Philadelphia Phillies’ general manager was part of the coaching staffs of the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets. “Guys were coming off the field and saying how cool it was to get back in there and to be hitting a baseball and competing and then be hanging out with my buddies. “So, you’d have that kind of visceral reaction from the players. That’s when you know you’ve done something that makes people happy. The camaraderie, that whole mission and goal of trying to compete against another team and to be with your boys again in the clubhouse, that was sort of the feeling that I got from these guys.”