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After battling with the Dodgers for first place in the National League West early on in the season, the San Diego Padres are now mired in a brutal slump.
The team is just 1-9 over its last 10 games, falling eight games behind LA, and the lineup has produced an MLB-worst 235 runs over the course of the season.
At the heart of those struggles is superstar third baseman Manny Machado. Machado, who is in the middle of an 11-year, $350 million contract, is batting just .175 with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs.
So, what went wrong? And why can’t Machado or his teammates seem to get their groove back at the dish.
According to Machado, the answer is simple: it’s all the fault of analytics.
Manny Machado Blames Analytics For His Inability To Hit The Ball
Machado went on a lengthy postgame rant to the media following San Diego’s 5-0 loss to the New York Mets on Friday night.
He touched on several issues for their struggles. However, analytics were the one aspect that he just kept coming back to while trying to explain things away.
“The game’s evolving, man. It’s definitely getting harder to play. It’s definitely getting more strategic,” Machado said. “I just wish we can get the analytics out of the way. I think there’s too many stats out there. Too many stats, way too many numbers. I don’t even know half of the stuff that goes up there. I look at the board sometimes, and I even ask some of the guys, like, ‘What is WCCVBB, whatever it is? What are these names that are being created?’
“I mean, it’s just crazy to even keep up with…It goes back to old-school stuff, man. Just see the ball and hit the ball.”
Ironically, that same “see ball, hit ball” approach was what led to the Padres recently cutting ties with Nick Castellanos, who was hitting just .191 after joining following his release from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Machado does have one point. The sheer number of analytic measures in baseball can be confusing. But if he were seeing the ball and hitting the ball, his average wouldn’t be .175, and the analytics would show that he was performing better.