Let me preface this post by saying that I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with Baton Pass in the current metagame. I don't think it is broken. I don't think it even has the potential to be so without the help of individually broken Pokemon. I also certainly do not think it is uncompetitive in any sense of the word, and I do not believe that we should be banning or nerfing anything to do with it. With that said, I want to look at this from a more neutral point of view and judge what is the crux of baton pass teams that makes them even something that is up for discussion here in the first place, and, if something is to be nerfed or banned, what it should be.
Baton Pass teams are teams of many elements. While many fall easily into place with each other, almost all of them are absolutely necessary for the success of the team as a whole. Obviously the teams need ways to boost multiple stats. Most notably of these is Speed, as while at its most dangerous, boosts can be passed to something with Stored Power, letting any boost fuel offense, only speed can fuel speed, and it doesn't matter what power you have if you can't get a hit off. Now of course, not every BP team anchor necessarily has Stored Power, or is a Pokemon even remotely similar to those that do. However they still all need speed, or else they can't really sweep much, baring possessing natural speed or priority. Obviously though, other stat boosters are also important, however, the ways to get offensive and defensive boosts are highly varied, and it can be approached from dozens of angles as appropriate for the team. None of these angles are particularly special for a full BP team though. Epecially powerful boost passers are generally much more of a presence on one off BP teams, as the users of these moves (Smash Pass, for instance), are weak by OU standards themselves, and don't function as well on teams that require constant building and switching. So, when looking at the boosting side of things for BP, it is a lot harder to find any place to put fault, outside of speed.
Going back to speed for a second, not only is it by far the most important stat to boost, it is also arguably the easiest, due to the existence of Scolipede. Speed Boost simply lets you get Speed boosts for free, while meanwhile you can do whatever else you want to get set up. While I personally disagree in general with the notion that BP teams require little skill, this one element here I could concede that point on. It takes prediction and skill to make sure you are always in a good matchup for boosting, but that prediction is easier when you are faster, and when getting faster can be done in a thoughtless manner, it significantly lessens the necessity for skill in the strategy. The skill requirement is definitely still there, but it is just lowered by a huge amount.
Outside of the boosting itself, one of the most important parts of BP teams are the Pokemon that stop status moves from breaking them. Specifically this means Magic Bouncers and Soundproof mons. While Espeon is certainly a decent Pokemon in its own right, it suffers the problems of being quite frail, making predicted switch ins more difficult until you are boosted up. Even so, once in it is quite powerful, and can force a ton of switches itself. If it is all set up it will sweep, but if not, it can easily get you switch advantage with BP. But, I would argue that this is again more due to the speed boosts than anything else. It takes a lot of defensive boosts to make it able to take a lot of hits, and while it is fast, it is not unusually so. However, the advantages of Speed Boosts are definitely less pronounced here, as Espeon can be seen to be quite priority weak. As for the Soundproof mons, aka Mr. Mime, it is important to note that, outside of Baton Pass teams, it is utterly useless in OU. This does not mean BP is bad for making it viable. In fact, I would argue the exact opposite. It does however mean that it has key weaknesses that make it a non-ideal choice otherwise. Its very easy to see what said flaws are looking at it. Quick, but not especially so. OK power, but not that great. Stupidly physically frail. No really special moves. Again, its ability to block Perish Song (and choiced sound offensive moves) are the only thing making it useful. The weaknesses of this Pokemon make it rely very much on proper prediction and usage if one is to get the most out of it. I would have a very hard time believing any problem with BP stems from Mr. Mime. Again though, the ability to outspeed and thus have switch advantage after it gets in is key for making BP easier.
So with all that said, I think it is fairly obvious where I think that the only potential problem here is. Free speed boosts drastically decrease the skill level requirement needed for BP teams. If anything on BP is to be banned or nerfed, I think it has to be something regarding this. How exactly to go about this though is trickier. Complex bans suck, especially when it needs to be so specific. Speed Boosting for free is the problem, but they are only really such a problem on BP teams. Speed Boost itself is not a problem. What's more, it is not even Speed Boost on BP teams alone that does it, as I don't think anyone considers Ninjask much of a threat in the same way they think of Scolipede. Personally, I abhor the idea of banning a move on a Pokemon though. If the Pokemon is the problem, then it needs to go. So, in my opinion, if something needs to be done about Baton Pass, then we should be looking at simply banning Scolipede. I don't like it, but I like it more than other alternatives. Of course, as I said from the start, I don't think that is necessary at all, but if we want to do something, I think that is the way to go.
