Major League Baseball Absolutely Needs to Start Letting Hitters Introduce Themselves as They Come to the Plate: TRAINA THOUGHTS

MLB would be wise to copy this gimmick from the Savannah Bananas

1. The Savannah Bananas are a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League. The bio for the team’s official Twitter account reads: “Fans first. Entertain always. Georgia’s favorite team.”

It’s hard to argue about the “entertain always” part.

During a game over the weekend, Savannah catcher Bill Leroy came to the plate and was introduced to the crowd. However, it was not the P.A. that did the honors. Leroy handled things himself and it was awesome.

From the WWE feel to Leroy's clapping as he told the fans to put their hands together to Leroy's introducing himself as “myself,” everything about this was spectacular.

MLB would be smart to implement this feature for every batter during their first plate appearance of the game, but we know that won’t happen because the majors hate fun.

On a side note, the Bananas social media person wrote in the tweet that this was a “Top three moment” of the game. What on Earth could the two other moments possibly be?

2. I don't watch the Olympics. However, I do spend hours a day scrolling through TikTok and one of my favorite accounts is @kerri_okie. The entire account is videos of Kerri tormenting her adorable mother and catching her folksy rantings on camera. 

Last night, Kerri captured her mom bashing the Olympic broadcasters and I think every sports fan can relate.

3. Brewers shortstop Willy Adames has been in a slump, so he tried to get out of it by showing his bat some tender love and care.

4. WWE Champion Roman Reigns got a little naughty while cutting a promo on John Cena during Friday's edition of SmackDown.

Speaking of WWE, Hawks star Trae Young made an appearance on SmackDown to announce that the WWE would be doing a pay-per-view show from Atlanta on New Year's Day.

5. Diane Sawyer is ready for Ted Lasso.

6. This week's SI Media Podcast dropped Thursday morning, and it features an interview with Lindsay Czarniak. The veteran sportscaster talks about her daily Olympics show on Peacock, On Her Turf, shares her thoughts on women trying to break through in sports media and discusses the Maria Taylor–Rachel Nichols controversy.

This episode kicks off with the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. We talked about the forthcoming Peyton-Eli Monday Night Football broadcast, Tom Brady’s White House visit, Ted Lasso and the worst songs of all time.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Heard this 1980s banger over the weekend, and, quite frankly, we don't give this song the respect it deserves.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.