Manny Machado of the Padres criticizes analytics harshly

Manny Machado Questions Reliance on Analytics in Baseball

Manny Machado may view “Moneyball” as a misleading treasure. The veteran third baseman, a seven-time All-Star, is enduring his toughest season in the majors. Following a 5-0 defeat to the Mets on Friday night, during which he was 1-for-4 and grounded into a double play, Machado took the chance to express his thoughts on baseball’s current direction and what he sees as excessive dependence on stats.

“The game is evolving. It’s definitely getting harder to play. It’s definitely becoming more strategic,” he shared with reporters. This came after the Padres suffered their 10th loss in 11 games. “I want to get the analysis out of the way. I think there are too many stats. Too many stats, too many numbers. I don’t even know half of what’s up there. I look at message boards sometimes and ask people, ‘What is WCCVBB, whatever, what name is it being created?’”

“I mean, it’s crazy to even keep up.”

Machado, who has secured three Silver Slugger Awards, has seen his performance plummet, particularly when looking at traditional baseball metrics. Presently, he’s batting .175/.262/.355 over 60 games, with an OPS+ of 73—figures that, if the season ended today, would all be personal lows.

While his advanced stats present a slightly more favorable picture (his hard-hit rate remains in the 66th percentile), his expected batting average and slugging percentage are still underwhelming compared to his career norms.

Even with a 32-30 record, the Padres’ season has been disappointing considering the high hopes they had coming in. Adding to Machado’s woes, teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. recently hit his first home run of the season on May 30 after what seemed like an unexplained slump.

As the Padres strive to find their footing, Machado stated that the essence of baseball remains grounded in one primary factor.

“At the end of the day, the important thing is to compete,” he remarked. “You have to go out there and compete, take away all the analytics, take in everything you can think of, go out and catch the ball and try to make more outs, right?”