Dave Trembley likes what he's seeing in baseball this year | KEN WILLIS

Dave Trembley likes what he sees from baseball these days.

Not all that many days ago, he had to squint in order to recognize the grand ol’ game.

“I think the game is headed back in the right direction,” he said this past week from a Courtyard Marriott in Morgantown, West Virginia.

West Virginia might not sound like a potential hub of baseball rejuvenation, but yes, it’s playing a role. Trembley was there over the weekend as manager of the State College (Pa.) Spikes, in town to play the West Virginia Black Bears, cohorts in the old New York-Penn League. The NYP became the MLB Draft League following the 2021 contraction of 42 minor league teams.

“One of the reasons I wanted to do this for Major League Baseball, they asked me to incorporate and teach old-school fundamentals,” says Trembley, a longtime Daytona Beach Shores resident, whose managing career included two stints with the Daytona Cubs before four seasons (2007-10) as skipper of the Baltimore Orioles.

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The summertime Draft League splits its season in two. The first 30 games act as a showcase for draft-eligible players ahead of the MLB Amateur Draft, with the next 50 games employing rosters of players out of college eligibility and/or looking to break into pro ball at its lower level.

The six-team league includes Trembley’s Spikes, who play at Medlar Field, which is also home to Penn State’s baseball team.

There’s a long history of New York-Penn League baseball throughout the league, which helps explain the excellent attendance figures — 4,000 and 5,000 are common numbers for Spikes games.

“These are old baseball communities,” Trembley says. “It’s neat that Major League Baseball gave them a team because those people … it was a big part of their summer. It’s the only game in town for a lot of these people.”

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Trembley, at 71, doesn't remain in the game to lure customers, but to teach baseball, which in turn, he believes, will produce a more alluring product for the masses. Ironically, this current return to some “ancient” principles — baserunning, defense, situational hitting, etc. — has been aided by something very new-age: pitch clocks, pickoff limits, bigger bases, shift bans, etc.

“It’s given the game a shot in the arm. It’s a little more sped-up,” Trembley says. “For a while, it was just get up there and try to outslug the other team. It’s brought back baserunning, the hit-and-run …

“The players who have all come through travel ball, college ball, there’s been all these analytics, and it led to a lack of fundamentals. I think this has infused the game and made it better. I think it’s also more exciting for the fans.”

Whether talking baseball or teaching it, Trembley likes to toss out the word balance. Successful baseball, dating back to handlebar mustaches and train travel, demanded a certain balance of offense and defense, with all of the proper tools needed to succeed at both — and win more often than losing.

“I think there’s a better balance in our game right now,” Trembley says. “I think there will be a swing, going forward, and there will be an old-school approach to how you play the game. I don’t think we’ll ever get away from spin rates and exit velocity, all those analytics, but I think there will be more balance.

“You’re seeing it this year, with baserunning and base stealing a big part of the game again. It’s a faster-paced game and I think a better brand of baseball.”

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dave Trembley, State College Spikes, part of MLB changes for better