Barry Bonds May Have The Answer To Baseball’s Biggest Problem

It takes a special swing of the bat to send a ball out of the yard.  A certain stroke is needed to get the baseball over the fence. The power is needed, yes, but without seeing the ball off the bat there is no one that can hit a home run.

After decades of hitting records being broken year after year, the pitchers in the MLB have finally seemed to catch up. Over the past season we saw a new wave of talent emerge from the bump. Teams are developing their young stars and producing them into aces at a quicker pace than ever before. What’s left is teams struggling to win due to the inability to score runs. This year the Royals showed us that you can win by playing ‘small ball.’  They mastered the art of moving runners over and sacrificing outs for runs. This knack led them to bringing a World Series back to Kansas City.

But what if I told you there was an easy way to score runs. A more dramatic way to change a game. The home run. The new pitchers are bringing some serious heat to the plate.  If teams don’t react quickly they could be left without a chance to win the game before it even starts.  The new manager of the Miami Marlins, Don Mattingly, decided it was time his team brought some heat of their own to the plate.

Mattingly recently hired Barry Bonds to his staff as a hitting coach. Normally a new coach bringing in new members to their staff is a non-event.  Well not when that guy is the all time leader in career home runs (762), and also home runs in a single season (73).  Bonds, who last played in 2007, is one of the few men that have that special swing of the bat and is hoping to share his gift with as many people as he can.

There is bad blood behind Bonds, however. In 2007 he was indicted for a testimony that involved connections to a performance enhancing drugs laboratory in the Bay Area. The connection would tarnish his name, cut his chances of making it to the Hall of Fame, and permanently put an asterisk next to his name in the record books.

But that was eight years ago. It’s 2015 and teams are desperate to get a leg up in the battle against opposing pitching. The Marlins roster is loaded with young talent that is as raw as it gets and is ready to take the next step forward. Their $325 million dollar man, Giancarlo Stanton, has proved to us he has the power to get the ball out of the park by hitting numerous 450+ yard home runs. Last season, he hit the league’s longest home run at 484 ft, twice.  He will now be taking advice from the arguably the greatest hitter of our time.

Mattingly took a big chance with signing Bonds. But he knew exactly what he was doing. Allegations of steroid use will always loom over Barry Bonds, no one will argue he wasn’t one of the greats when it comes to hitting a baseball. Strength might play a huge role in Home Runs, but making contact with the ball is a craft that only few have fully mastered. No one was better at doing that than him. He had that certain swing and he used it time and time again to set what will be a nearly unbreakable record. Although he might not ever get his spot in Cooperstown, he may have the answer to baseballs biggest problem.

PHOTO: Former Major League Baseball player Barry Bonds leaves federal court on April 13, 2011 in San Francisco, California. After three and a half days of deliberation, a jury found Barry Bonds guilty on one count of obstruction of justice and was a hung jury on three counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury about his use of performance enhancing drugs. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)