World Series champion David Wells criticizes MLB commissioner while discussing pitchers' habits

David Wells, a former pitcher and World Series winner who played for the New York Yankees, among others, sharply attacked MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday.

Wells appeared on OutKick's “Ricky Cobb Show” and called Manfred the “worst commissioner in the game” and accused him of trying to change the game too much.

The critical comments were made during a discussion about the pitch counts.

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Cobb noted that during the 1999 season, when Wells was with the Toronto Blue Jays, he regularly threw more than 100 pitches in games. Wells said that pitchers are no longer doing what they did in Wells' time. Instead, pitchers are too focused on throwing in the zone.

“They don't play long shots. They don't do anything,” Wells said. “They work on analyzing the game, zones to shoot in, but we had to shoot in zones all the time. We had to evaluate the guys, and these days everything is handed to them on a silver platter.”

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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher David Wells in action at the Skydome during the 1992 season. (USA Today Sports)

“So for me, it's a matter of mindset, of going out there and executing it. You have to know which guys can beat you, which guys you have success with, but you still have to be careful. You just have to hit the right spots. And these days, against a certain hitter, they only throw in zones and only in a zone. And I don't know if I would buy into these new analytics. I would just play to my strengths. And that's what a lot of guys did back then. They played to their strengths and it worked. But now they're trying to change the game.

“To me, they have the worst commissioner ever trying to change the game of baseball when the history of the game has been the same for over 150 years. If you look at all those guys in the early days — or how about when Bob Gibson and all those guys were throwing 300-400 innings a year. They didn't have arm problems. They ran. They did all that stuff in the offseason. They did their workouts.

“So why mess up success? And these days they're trying to mess up success with these analytics. Personally, I don't like that. I don't like that at all.”

Wells did not specify which changes he disagreed with.

Manfred has been MLB commissioner since 2015. Since then, baseball has implemented a pitch clock to speed up the game and has cracked down on pitchers who use sticky substances to increase spin rate.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Jr. speaks during the 2024 Grapefruit League spring training media day at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida on February 15, 2024. (Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Last year, Manfred defended the pitch clock rule despite objections.

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“We are pleased with the way the clock and the violations were handled, especially towards the end of the game in the crucial situations we observed,” Manfred said.

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