Padres' Manny Machado shares strong critique of analytics: 'Too many stats'

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Padres' Manny Machado shares strong critique of analytics: 'Too many stats' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The San Diego Padres have been reeling recently this season, best seen with their series sweeps at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Their offense is incredibly bleak at the moment, and Manny Machado, one of the most expensive players in baseball, is one of the big reasons why. He's hitting .175 this season, but he has 11 home runs, leading the Padres.

However, Machado is not a fan of advanced analytics, which could be used to help him improve his game this summer. Dennis Lin of The Athletic shared Machado's strong critique of analytics, with Machado clearly not a fan of analytics coming to MLB.

Manny Machado is not an analytics fan​

"The game's evolving, man," Machado said. "It's definitely getting harder to play. It's definitely getting more strategic. I just wish we can get the analytics out of the way. I think there's too many stats out there. Too many stats, way too many numbers..."

Machado is clearly not a fan of advanced analytics, later identifying FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) as one such advanced statistic he's questioning.

For someone who is struggling so much for the Padres this season, these advanced analytics are the thing that could help him drastically improve as a player.

But, instead, Machado is clearly expressing his skepticism over these analytics. Looking at Machado's Baseball Savant page, which contains a lot of great advanced analytics that point to what's going wrong this year, would surely help Machado get better.

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If Machado knew that his barrel percentage was down to 8.8, well below the 10.9% mark for his entire career, along with the 19th percentile squared-up percentage, Machado might be able to get a better idea of what to change going forward.

But, because he isn't an analytics fan, the advanced statistics that could help him improve as a hitter aren't being used to their fullest.

Instead of analytics, Machado believes that, "It goes back to old-school stuff, man. Just see the ball and hit the ball."

For Machado, who is hitting .175 this season with a .617 OPS, his current methods clearly aren't working at all. He's struggling mightily this season and looks like someone who could benefit from adjustments that only advanced analytics could help provide.

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