Something Needs to Be Done about MLB’s Instagram Strategy

When I first started following Major League Baseball on Instagram, I’ll admit I was pretty excited. At my age, you can’t exactly pull out a pack of baseball cards and browse through them leisurely. But for some reason you can do it on a smartphone without drawing any strange stares.

Unfortunately, what I’ve seen so far from MLB on Instagram has been surprising. First of all, it’s posting way too much. Yesterday for instance MLB posted 35 pictures in one day. And 18 of them were of Clayton Kershaw. Granted, he did throw one of the greatest games of all time on Wednesday, a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts. But the smart thing to do would be to post a few pictures and offer a link to a gallery with more of them. After all, the Instagram news feed can only feature one photo at a time. I haven’t seen pictures of my friends in days due to the constant flood of images from MLB.

To make matters worse, many of the other pictures that MLB posted yesterday failed to make the mark. For instance, it posted a picture of Jose Reyes inspecting Jose Bautista’s beard. And another picture showed a grounds keeper in St. Louis watering the dirt. Grounds keepers have an important place in the game, but it’s just boring content. Other questionable pictures include a big group of friends posing for a picture outside of Yankee Stadium, and a man holding a sign claiming he won’t shave until the Tigers win the World Series.

Here’s what I want to see: I want to see more pictures like Billy Hamilton scaling the wall to make a catch. I want to see Mike Trout hitting a home run, and Masahiro Tanaka striking someone out. There should be more pictures and videos of walk-offs, as well as the lighter moments in baseball like bloopers and players getting pied in the face. MLB could offer plays of the day, and Throwback Thursdays  (#TBT) offering clips from “this day in baseball history.” They could do more for fantasy baseball, too.

Like with most fans, you don’t have to twist my arm to get me to follow an MLB-related channel. But MLB’s Instagram could do so much more for the game. What are your thoughts? Do you know any companies that do a great job posting content on Instagram? Tell us your thoughts below.