Randy Arozarena Is The Real Deal

Baseball is a child’s game played by men in pajama-like uniforms. It’s a simple game, really. Throw the ball. Hit the ball. Catch the ball. Run from base to base. There’s strategy, of course: who to pitch when; what pitch to throw, where fielders should stand on the field and so on. But at it’s core, baseball is a pure game, albeit one that it is extraordinarily difficult to play at the professional level.

Randy Arozarena gets it. The outfielder plays baseball with infectious joy. He lights up the field, the batter’s box, his teammates, and the fans with his smile and his energy, all while making highlight-reel plays.

Case in point. Arozarena made a spectacular leaping catch against the left field wall to save Mexico’s 5-4 lead over Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinal game on Friday night. Watch the clip. Twice. Three times. Imprint his post-catch smile on your brain.

His teammates love what Arozarena brings to the field every day. Rowdy Tellez, the Milwaukee Brewers first baseman playing for Team Mexico, calls Arozarena “electric.” Alex Verdugo told reporters after Friday night’s game that Arozarena is “amazing” and he’s been “balling out” the whole tournament.

Verdugo is right. Arozarena has had a monster World Baseball Classic on both sides of the ball. Here he is last Wednesday hitting a bases-clearing double to expand Mexico’s lead over Canada in the game that clinched Mexico’s win in Pool C.

The fans just ate it up. And Arozarena rewarded them by taking time during a pitching change in that game against Canada to autograph whatever objects they could pass down to him from the stairs.

You hear color analyst Buck Martinez say at the end of that clip: “Only in the WBC. The beauty of the WBC—players are relaxed, fans are excited.” That sentiment was echoed by Ryan Spilborghs, the former Colorado Rockies outfielder, who worked as the color analyst along side Mike Ferrin on MLB Network Radio’s call of the WBC games played at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Why? 

Why would you only see that in the WBC? Why is there less fun, less joy in MLB games? Spilborghs alluded to baseball’s “unwritten rules,” and I could feel my blood start to boil. If the “unwritten rules” say that players shouldn’t have fun and express joy during an MLB game, then the rules should be thrown out, along with all attempts to enforce them.

It’s not as if Arozarena’s gregarious approach to baseball negatively affected his performance in the WBC. In the four games of Pool C play, he went 7-for-14 with 5 doubles, 1 home run, and 6 runs scored. In Mexico’s win over Puerto Rico on Friday, Arozarena walked twice, hit a single and scored one run—in addition to his spectacular catch.

Arozarena has a history of rising to the big moments. In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he played in only 23 games for the Tampa Bay Rays and amassed only 76 plate appearances. But he blew the roof of several records in the postseason.

In 20 postseason games, he hit 10 home runs, breaking the record of 8 total home runs in a single postseason, held by Barry Bonds, Carlos Beltrán, and Nelson Cruz. He became the first rookie position player to win an LCS MVP after posting a .321/.367/.786 slash line in the Rays victory over the Houston Astros four games to three. He performed even better at the plate in the World Series—.364/.462/.773. As my friend Jay Jaffe wrote at the time, Arozarena was en fuego.

Arozarena followed up that epic postseason performance by winning the American League Rookie of the Year the next season. He had accumulated fewer than 45 days of service on a major league roster prior to the 2021 season that he was still eligible for rookie status.

His offense dropped off in 2022, but if his performance in the World Baseball Classic is a sign of what’s to come this season, it will be a force in the American League.

You can watch Arozarena and Team Mexico take on Team Japan on Monday at 7 pm EDT/4 pm PDT on FS1. The winner of that game will meet Team USA in the World Baseball Classic finale on Tuesday at 7 pm EDT/4 pm PDT.