Former MLB star Kenny Lofton praises Sluggball’s reimagined take on the sport: ‘Baseball’s best golf’

An often lost art in baseball is being revived in an innovative way this year, and it’s a bygone art Major League Baseball The star is happy to offer advice.

Sluggball is a reimagined way of playing the sport, and six-time MLB All-Star Kenny Lofton, who serves as a consultant for the company, views it as something similar to a recreational version of another sport.

“It’s almost like this Top golf “Baseball. It’s a competition, and there are people who play the game and want to enjoy it,” Lofton told FOX Business Digital by phone.

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Sluggball was founded by a Philadelphia-based partnership group that includes former MLB player and Philadelphia Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and his brother David Amaro. The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, Victus Bats and Blast Motion are also collaborating with the brand, while Evan Kaplan, managing director of MLB Players, Inc., serves as a consultant alongside Lofton.

The premise of the reimagined version of baseball is to reignite situational hitting in a fun format that allows players of all ages to compete in 4-on-4 contests at various minor league parks in New Jersey, Ohio and New York this year.

Situational hitting is an aspect of today’s big league game that is not as much of a priority as it was when Lofton played the game. It’s painful for the former high-level outfielder to see power as the main ingredient behind hitting, which is why he hopes the Sluggball format can bring situational and contact hitting back to the forefront.

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“I think my favorite part about this whole thing is that you can get smaller guys to be a part of the game, and it was more, for me, about situational hitting,” Lofton, who played 17 seasons in the NFL and amassed 2,428 hits over the course of the season. General. He said 2103 matches. “I think that’s what I saw, and I felt how important that was to the game, and it resonated with me because I wasn’t a power hitter. This game was set up with power, power, power. I’m like that’s not the only part of what makes this game so special, just to make it possible The opportunity for guys who played college ball and high school ball in this game of Sluggball to get back into the game again because they love it.

“You don’t have to be the most powerful hitter, but you can still know how to handle the bat, and Sluggball puts guys in that position to put a little team together and go out there and do something and have that competitive edge that a lot of guys want to get back to.”

The rules of Sluggball are simple. First, teams of six to eight players are registered for their event this year with their pitcher bringing their batting practice style to the field. The lineups for their games — two four-inning games guaranteed going in — will feature four hitters, and at-bats are limited to eight swings or 35 seconds.

Each game consists of four rounds of situational hitting, where points are scored by hitting the ball according to the situation of each round. This will be the draw side, up center, opposite field and around the horn, depending on which side of the plate the batter is on.

A batted ball is only counted if it is hit into the field on the side where the round is and stays in fair territory. The team with the most total points in a round wins that round, and there’s no need to run or play – just hitting.

Sluggball hosted an invitation-only demo event at Trenton Thunder Ballpark in September 2024, when Phillies legend Larry Bowa was the MLB ambassador at the site, who spent time signing autographs and interacting with participants. The event witnessed a large turnout from both players and those who attended with them, which led to optimism heading into 2025.

“A 65-year-old guy who knows how to swing a bat can score runs in this situation,” Lofton said, referring to the age of one of the trial event players. “You can hit the ball up the middle, and you can hit the ball to left field or right field when it’s time to do it. That’s what got me excited.”

“We know it’s BP, but again, I always say you have to learn how to operate the bat. … Maybe Sluggball can have that opportunity to say, ‘Hey, this is also a part of the game that’s important that’s been taken away because of analytics and people “Ivy League.”

Sluggball currently has Six events are available To register for Opening Day at Trenton Thunder Ballpark on May 10. The fee is $1,795 per team and includes a two-game guarantee with a chance to play in the championship game for a $3,000 cash prize.

Players also receive on-field team apparel, including UnderArmour shorts and a Branded Bills jersey and hat. Lunch and restaurant cash, post-event player performance analysis, signed memorabilia from guest MLB alumni, and more are in store for each team’s experience.

So, just like Top Golf, those who still love the game can get those competitive juices flowing along with others who want to do the same.

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As Sluggball looks to reclaim this lost art, it is also expanding the camaraderie that baseball naturally has.

“That’s one thing I miss about the game — the camaraderie of going out there every day and having fun with the guys because you’re all like-minded,” Lofton said. “You have like-minded people who want to enjoy the game as it is. Again, you don’t have to be more athletic. You just have to know how to swing the bat and put the ball in different areas of the court and not worry about putting it off the court.”

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