MLB’s marketing plan focuses on stars like Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatis Jr.

In 1998, when Denver last hosted the All-Star Game, Ken Griffey Jr. and his commercial smile were everywhere.

“The Kid” has resonated far beyond baseball with national ad campaigns and a left-handed swing that’s as pretty as it gets.

Today Mike Trout, three-time MVP and one of the greatest players in baseball history, is an incognito superstar. Average Joe Fan could ride an elevator with the Angels’ middle fielder and might not even know it.

Major League Baseball plans to change that – and the All-Star Game at Coors Field is its launchpad.

With players like Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Fernando Tatis Jr., Mookie Betts and Jacob deGrom, MLB could have its most exciting cast of young stars since the ’90s.

It was then that Griffey starred in a Nike commercial promoting him to the presidency, and Derek Jeter appeared on the covers of GQ and Newsweek magazines.

But times have changed and baseball is lagging behind the NFL and NBA when it comes to promoting its stars. The sport initially failed to ride the wave of social media and in recent years has struggled to attract young casual fans. According to the Sports Business Journal, only 7% of MLB viewers are under 18, and the numbers aren’t much better among young adults.

But as America emerges from the pandemic and ballparks open to full capacity, MLB is doing everything it can to market the game and its charismatic young stars.

“Our plan is to focus on promoting our players and engaging a more diverse audience,” said Barbara McHugh, MLB’s senior vice president of marketing. “Our efforts are focused on their young talent, the passion and the fun they bring to the game.”

To that end, MLB’s marketing team recently worked with Ohtani and his agent to announce Ohtani’s participation in Monday’s Home Run Derby through his social media account. Ohtani used a video produced for him by MLB and his social media following grew to over 55,000 over the next week.

Additionally, MLB has more than 1,000 players enrolled in its Player Social program, including 58 of the game’s top 100 prospects. The program is in its third year.

“We’re providing players with photos, videos, motion graphics and game highlights throughout the season,” McHugh said. “We are able to be a resource for the players.”

MLB shares the content with its 30 teams, the MLB Network and an array of social media accounts.

The league has also invested in “MLB Originals,” a YouTube-hosted program that debuted last year that includes behind-the-scenes glimpses into players’ off-court lives. According to McHugh, 80% of viewers are under 34.

With games played nearly every day for six months, MLB thinks it should capitalize on highlights and focus on personalities. Relying on nostalgia and history, as baseball has done for decades, no longer moves the needle, especially with so many other entertainment options available to young fans.

So MLB is playing a catch-up game.

According to market research, only 22% of Americans know who Trout is. Meanwhile, 79% know who NFL quarterback Tom Brady is. And while it’s safe to say that baseball players have never been more talented, the action in a game has diminished. With ever-increasing pitching speed, coupled with the emphasis on home runs, strikeouts continued to rise and batting averages dropped. Which led to a dearth of action, turning off fans.

And baseball faces other major challenges as well.

“The biggest issue for baseball is simply the regionality of the game,” said Bob Dorfman, creative director and sports analyst for Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco. “You follow your home team but you don’t really follow the other teams. You’re not necessarily going to activate a game on a Thursday night if it’s not your local team playing.

That being said, Dorfman, who worked with the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s, thinks the time has come for baseball to promote its young stars.

“Baseball should invest more money in promoting these guys, in every way possible, in all mediums – social media, television, in person, whatever they can do, they should.” he declared.

Still, Dorfman said, baseball faces limitations that other sports don’t.

“The game doesn’t really lend itself to a lot of flash,” he said. “Laying down and watching your home run go over the fence, and the long, slow home run trot, baseball tends to legislate against that. They should loosen things up a bit more and let these guys show more personality.

The Angels’ Ohtani will take center stage in Monday night’s Home Run Derby. He is the first player ever selected for the All-Star Game as a pitcher and position player. Dorfman sees incredible marketing potential for the Japanese-born star.

“Somebody who dominates his sport like that, you’d think he’d just be all over the place,” he said. “Comparisons to Babe Ruth aren’t out of place, so you’d think someone so special would have tremendous appeal.”

As the media buzz around Ohtani grows, he is still not an American superstar or a household name.

At least not yet.