Rangers Legend 'Pudge' Rodríguez Airs Grievances About Today's MLB
Former Texas Rangers catcher Iván 'Pudge' Rodríguez is a legend in Arlington. Over the course of 21 seasons, Rodríguez amassed 13 Gold Gloves, a Rookie of the Year award, the 1999 AL MVP, and secured 2,844 hits. Much of that he did with the Rangers over the course of his 12 years in Arlington.
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Needless to say, when someone like Rodríguez has an opinion on baseball, ears tend to perk up and people listen.
Rodríguez recently spoke with David Samson on Nothing Personal with David Samson, a daily podcast produced by CBS Sports. The two spoke about a number of topics, but of interest was Rodríguez' opinions on the state of the game today.
Pudge believes that analytics have taken the fun out of the game and has created a different ballgame than the one he came up playing.
"I watch baseball but baseball is not the way that we played in our era," Rodríguez told Samson. "It's totally different, I believe that analytics are to me a little too much, for me, personally, it takes the ability of the players away because they have to go with what they tell them to do."
For many, they share the same opinion as Pudge as they grow tired of seeing how analytics has turned many players into the "true three outcome" type player in which they will either hit a home run, walk or strikeout. Additionally, the defense is told exactly where to position themselves for each batter rather than use instinct to play the game.
"Baseball should be played the way [to include more] bunting, move the guy over from second base to third base, steal, hit and run, all these plays that make the game more exciting," Rodríguez added. "If we go back to that game, I think it's going to be more fun to watch, to be honest. It's fun to watch right now, don't get me wrong, but they take so many things out of the game like [the things I just mentioned] and I would love to see that more in today's game."
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While few teams still play the way Rodríguez reminisces over, the reality is that it would take an entire philosophical change for baseball to revert back to the "small ball" type of game Rodríguez references.
For now, the increased rate of home runs (and strikeouts), coupled with the new defensive tactics are hear to stay. However, that does not mean we can't agree with the Hall of Famer.
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