Rubén Amaro Jr on the MLB Network set at the Winter Meetings on Dec. 10, 2024. Rubén Amaro Jr. on the MLB Network set at the Winter Meetings on Dec. 10, 2024. (Tim Heitman/Imagn Images.)

The concept of a baseball “lifer” certainly fits Rubén Amaro Jr. and the various MLB roles he’s held over the years. Those include batboy, player, assistant general manager, general manager, coach, and broadcaster. And now, he’s hoping to use all that experience to launch a new take on baseball that will help others stay involved with the game after their playing days end.

Amaro started with the Philadelphia Phillies as a batboy from 1980-83 when his father Rubén Sr. played for them. He then played in the big leagues from 1991-98, followed that by serving as an assistant general manager (1998-2008) and a GM (2009-2015) with the Phillies, and as a coach with the Boston Red Sox (2016-17) and New York Mets (2018). And he’s been broadcasting for the Phillies since 2020 and for MLB Network since 2022, and has seen a lot. That’s all gone into the new Sluggball concept he’s launching with his brother David and a group of other Philadelphia-based investors.

In a release put out Wednesday, the Sluggball team describes what they have as a “reimagined version of the sport designed to reignite the former player’s passion for hitting” and “a chance to relive the thrill of the game through a unique 4-v-4, situational hitting format with a proprietary, patent-pending scoring system.” Brand collaborators include the MLB Players Alumni Association, Victus Bats, and Blast Motion, and advisors include Evan Kaplan, managing director of MLB Players, Inc., and six-time MLB All-Star Kenny Lofton.

Amaro recently spoke to AA about the new league, his broadcasting career and more. There, he said that the team behind Sluggball came together through his brother’s involvement in the Philly Bandits travel baseball team for ages 10-22. Contacts made there led to the Amaros meeting the other investors in this group and hearing their idea for a situational hitting-focused take on baseball that could work to help former players keep participating in the game.

“They brought an idea, and we started kicking it around and developing it and formulating it. We felt like this was like a really cool thing to do that other major sports have done, sort of branched out. Baseball really has not done it to this level, we don’t think.

“And we think it’s a unique and fun experience that we’re creating for people who, basically, once they’re done playing high school ball or once they’re done playing D1 or D2 or D3 baseball, or even guys who have played professionally. I don’t know how many will get involved, but the demographics, we feel like it’s one of those things for people who have played baseball, who still have that itch, who would like to continue to do that.”

After internal development, Sluggball launched with an invite-only pilot event at the Trenton Thunder Ballpark in New Jersey last September. Here are some highlights of what that looked like:


Sluggball, which already has six official events scheduled across New Jersey and Ohio this year and expects to add more as further teams sign up, sees teams compete in four directional hitting rounds. Those are pull side, up the middle, opposite field, and around the horn.

The players will be competing in those rounds while facing batting practice-style pitches from their own pitcher. That will allow them to really focus on where they’re trying to put the ball. And Amaro said he thinks directional hitting is a crucial skill, and one that had somewhat diminished in MLB before recent rule changes.

“There had been this push, push for a long, long time, for the last 10 to 20 years now, since the whole analytics push came in pretty hard, with hitting a home run. Basically in Major League Baseball, you’re looking at a home run, a walk, and a strikeout as the three major outcomes. And I felt like that took away from the game.

“To me, baseball is about action. It’s about things that are happening on the field. And I think that MLB has done a pretty good job of sort of changing the rules to try to create that atmosphere. But I also believe in the art of hitting. The art of hitting is something that’s really important to me, the ability to to control the bat and control the barrel and to be able to hit situationally. And I think that that’s a sort of a lost art.”

Amaro said he thinks the Sluggball format will also bring a lot of excitement for players and fans.

“I just feel like there’s some action. The game has been, or had been, I know that they’re trying to make changes to it, but it had gotten a little stale. I remember being in the front office working with the Mets and scouting the NL and doing some advance stuff, and I was thinking to myself, ‘My God, the game has gotten so boring.’ There was a time when there was like an hour of absolutely no action.

“This is a game where each game is 30 minutes, it’s quick action, there’s a time element to it. The pitcher has to get the ball to the hitter, the hitter needs to make contact in the proper way, I just feel like there’s a level of energy that is created with this game that I think will draw a lot of attention and create a lot of entertainment for for folks who are both watching and for folks who are playing.”

Amaro said Lofton is the perfect advisor to have involved here, given how he was known for skillful contact hitting.

“He’s a possible Hall of Famer, an ex-teammate, and someone I actually signed to play for the Phillies. So I’ve known Kenny for a long time, I know the type of game that he played, with speed and contact and scoring runs and creating havoc on the base paths and creating action on the field,” Amaro said. “And I think that’s sort of the appeal for him and the appeal for his name to be involved in it, because that’s what he created as an athlete. And I think that that he’s a perfect fit with regard to what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to promote.”

And Amaro said beyond just letting people show off those skills, Sluggball’s scoring setup provides a meaningful contest here.

“We feel like this type of format not only creates some skill, but it also creates a little competition, to be able to put it on yourself, to compete with yourself and with other teams to be able to situationally hit, move the ball around the field in a setting where you have your own batting practice pitcher. But I think there’s a skill set to that too. You’re picking out your own batting practice pitcher to be able to create the positive results that you’re looking for.”

A player batting at a Sluggball test event in October 2024.
A player batting at a Sluggball test event in October 2024. (Sluggball.)

Beyond the emphasis on directional hitting and the unique scoring setup, another part of the focus is on a game that allows for wider participation, including from retired players. Amaro said part of the idea here was seeing what pickleball has done to keep former tennis pros (and others) involved in a similar sport with a broad participation focus, and wondering if there was an analog for baseball.

“I’ve actually gotten involved a little bit in the whole pickleball thing and got a little bit of the pickleball fever as I’ve sort of semi-retired,” he said. “I’m now doing a lot of golf and things of that nature. So, we started thinking about what opportunities baseball players have to continue to enjoy baseball and to actually participate. And there’s not a lot other than maybe older guys playing softball or something like that. We don’t think it’s the same.”

“…We just felt like this would be a nice space for people to continue to play the game and to enjoy the game, in an atmosphere similar to how pickleball is to tennis or ping pong or some combination. We felt like this was a really cool thing to be able to do, to compete with your friends and maybe some family members or what have you, and continue to play the game that we loved and I loved growing up.”

But Amaro said the Sluggball format not only works for older players, but brings a focus on what he sees as the most fun part of the sport to everyone.

“This is like a faster-paced competition type of a situation we’re creating, guys getting together, six to eight folks per team, and getting together and just hitting. And what’s the most fun part about baseball? It’s hitting. No running or defense is involved.

“…And frankly, for the demographic that we’re going to hit, not everybody’s going to be able to hit home runs. It’s not a home run derby. I don’t think that epitomizes what baseball is about. I think it’s about being able to command the strike zone, to be able to hit the baseball where you’re supposed to hit it, and to try to create action by handling the bat.”

Read on for how Sluggball grew out of Amaro’s Philadelphia connections, what it was like seeing himself as a The Goldbergs character and even appearing on the show, and why he’s loving his current broadcasting work.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.