Randy Arozarena is a champion of the common man.
Arozarena was acquired from the Rays to the Mariners in a surprising trade earlier this week.
But instead of flying directly to Seattle, Arozarena took the unusual step of sitting in the stands to watch the team play the Reds at Tropicana Field on Friday night and spend some final moments with Rays fans.
Rays announcers DeWayne Sturtz and Brian Anderson marveled at the move.
“That’s Randy,” commentator Anderson said. Awful Announcing covers“Randy Arozarena and family at Stanford. Oh, that’s weird. It was weird seeing Zach Eflin in an Orioles uniform. This is even weirder.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” play-by-play announcer Staats said. “You know, we’ve been in this sport for a few months now, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Anderson said what everyone was thinking: “Seattle is always like, ‘We’re on our way, right?'”
The announcers continued to be amazed.
“That’s amazing,” Anderson said.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before,” Staats reiterated.
Anderson, who played in MLB from 1993-2005 as a pitcher for the Angels, Cleveland, Diamondbacks and Royals, spoke about how shocking a mid-season trade could be.
“You can imagine how he felt when he found out,” he said.
“There weren’t that many rumors going around. We were stuck on the plane. We got off the plane and the news was on. It was very surreal.”
The Rays acquired outfielder Aidan Smith and pitcher Brodie Hopkins in exchange for Arozarena.
Arozarena, the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year and 2023 All-Star, entered Saturday’s game batting .211 with 15 home runs, 37 RBI and a .712 OPS this season.
