Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop, and soon-to-be free agent, Manny Machado has been the club's best hitter in the National League Championship Series.
He is 5-for-11 with a homer, double and three RBI on a team batting a collective .220.
But, it's his lack of effort on the basepatths that has drawn scorn, overshadowing his overall performance. In Game 2, he failed to run out a ground ball to Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia when the game was scoreless.
He addressed his mishap in an interview with Fox Sports 1, which will air before to Game 4 on Tuesday.
"I’ve been thinking about it, and it happens every time, there’s no excuse for it honestly," he said, according to The Athletic. "I’ve never given excuses for not running. I’m not hurt, there’s no excuse but I’ve been the same player …
“Obviously I’m not going to change, I’m not the type of player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle,’ and run down the line and slide to first base and … you know, whatever can happen. That’s just not my personality, that’s not my cup of tea, that’s not who I am.
“Should I have run on that pitch? Yeah … but I didn’t and I gotta pay the consequences for it. It does look bad. It looks terrible. I look back at the video and I’m like, ‘Woah, what was I doing?’ You know, just the emotions of the game. … I’m the type of player that has stayed in the zone, I’m playing and I’m just in the zone.
Machado is one of the most talented players in the league and could soon demand a $300 million payday. Yet, with all his talent, all the focus on Machado during the NLCS has been about his mishaps.
In Game 3, he made two questionable takeout slides into second base. The second ended a potential rally with an interference call, resulting in a double play in the fourth inning of a 4-0 loss.
"There's no perfect player," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "A guy that posts every inning is hard to come by these days. For me, the net, it's not even close."
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