Ozzie Guillén unloads on analytics, Pedro Grifol
Few words do more to ignite passion in baseball circles than “analytics.” On Saturday, former Chicago White Sox manager and current pre and postgame show host, Ozzie Guillén, had a lot to say about analytics.
Spoiler alert, he’s not in favor of of how analytics are used. So, what got Guillén going?
The White Sox dropped Friday night’s series opener to the red-hot Milwaukee Brewers 12-5. Chicago actually held a 5-4 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Milwaukee took over from there, scoring six runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. And it wasn’t an influx of power, either. The Brewers pounded out 23 hits — five of which were doubles, the other 18 were all singles.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol called the 18 singles surrendered “somewhat alarming.” And while crediting the Milwaukee hitters with finding holes in the defense, Grifol suggested that there may be an issue with his team’s defensive positioning. “We have to look at the video for sure and see where we were, but look at the data and see what happened,” Grifol said per Scott Merkin, MLB.com.
During the pregame show for Saturday’s game — which the White Sox would also lose — Guillén blasted Grifol and analytics in general.
“Those data guys, analytic guys, they’re a bunch of nerds with computers telling people what to do and what to say,” Guillén said. “Those guys never played the game. Put the computer down, go downstairs and be a coach and manager.”
Ozzie had a STRONG reaction to Pedro Grifol’s comments about “data and analytics”
“Those data/analytic guys, they’re a bunch of nerds with computers telling people what to do and say. Those guys never played the game.
“Put the computer down, go downstairs and be a coach.” pic.twitter.com/nogzFiYbfk
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) June 1, 2024
Guillén summed up Friday’s loss in simpler terms, saying “Those guys yesterday kicked the White Sox butts.” His co-hosts, Chuck Garfien and Frank Thomas, shared that sentiment.
“Thank you,” Thomas said.
“You know what, that’s what I want to hear,” Garfien said. Pedro should just say, ‘They kicked our butts.’ You know what? I agree with you. I don’t want to hear about data and analytics. Just say, ‘We got our butt kicked.’”
“By the way, that’s a loser — the way they talk, people, ‘We’re going to watch the video,’” Guillén said. “You think I want to watch a video on 0-for-20? ‘Oh, watch the video of what you do wrong.’ I’m 0-for-20. I’ll watch the video of when I do good and say, ‘OK. That’s what I’m gonna do.’ The last thing I want to watch is the game I lost when we gave up 23 hits. OK?
“If you have a chance to watch a game and you don’t watch it while you see, you don’t have to watch a video, you see it right there. You don’t have anything up here about what happened in the game? And who are you gonna call? ‘Hey guys, the data guys. You guys screwed up this game.’ No, the game got screwed up by the guys from the bullpen.”
[MLB.com, White Sox Talk on X, Photo Credit: NBC Sports Chicago]
