“Number Don’t Lie…”: Yankees Legend Turned Analyst Alex Rodriguez Shares Top Unappreciated Statistic That Impacts Baseball Even Today

The evolution of baseball over the centuries has been slow and steady. While the number of players in MLB and their respective power has increased, some tools of measurement have stood the test of time. Former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez is here to share the importance of at least one of them.

A-Rod’s passion for baseball has taken him from behind the bat to behind a booth. The player-turned-analyst shows his astute grasp of the sport each time he steps into the analyst role. After all, for someone who studied the game closely for twenty-two years in the majors, baseball is second nature. Now he’s reminding everyone how some tactics from a hundred years ago are still relevant today.

Alex Rodriguez Stresses the Importance of Batting Average

Baseball is not a mechanical system whose instruments of measuring stats will have accurate results each time. But over the years, some methods have persisted and batting average is one of them. Calculated by dividing a player’s hits by his total at-bats, a number between .000 and 1.000 is given. Alex Rodriguez’s own career batting average was .295, along with his other massive statistics.

Recently, the former Yankee shared a video replying to a fan comment that said, “It’s amazing how many people think batting average doesn’t matter. when it absolutely does.” Rodriguez agreed, “I completely agree with this. First of all, numbers don’t lie. The best batting average in baseball right now is the best team, the Atlanta Braves. The worst average is the Oakland A’s. So of course, there’s a correlation. Batting average matters. It did 100 years ago, 50 years ago, and it does today.”

It’s certainly not a foolproof method of estimating a player’s hitting ability, given that walks or hit-by-pitches aren’t taken into account. But it’s still an extremely useful tool to measure overall batting statistics. As Rodriguez pointed out, anyone can guess who’s the better team just with their batting average – the Braves or the Athletics.

Just goes to show how deep A-Rod’s knowledge is, and who is putting it to use at FOX Sports.

Rodriguez’s New Deal With FOX, No More ESPN

For the last few years, the retired ballplayer has worked with FOX Sports 1 as well as ESPN’s The KayRod Cast with Michael Kay. Back at the end of July, reports suggested that Rodriguez would be signing exclusively with FOX, meaning it would be his last year with ESPN. It would be another massive contract, following the same storyline from his days in MLB.

READ MORE – “I Just Love the Game” – Yankees Legend Alex Rodriguez Reveals the Approach He Took to Go From Playing Baseball to Analyzing It

As Ryan Glasspiegel of The New York Post put it, “A-Rod might be evacuating the Mothership.” The former Yankee has been with ESPN since 2018, while he joined FOX soon after his career ended, in 2015. It’s expected to be the biggest contract yet for an MLB analyst, and another record broken for Alex Rodriguez!

WATCH THIS STORY – Alex Rodriguez Swings for the Fences, Snags Lucrative Analyst Deal, Leaving ESPN in the Dust