Despite being a defensive shift-happy, 25-hours per day baseball dataholic who built his managing reputation stewarding the analytics-happy Cubs just three years ago, Rick Renteria’s in-game management has drawn attention more for its old school proclivities.
On Saturday night, the White Sox made five outs on the bases, typically the anathema of basic public sabermetric ideology that always loathes the pursuit of an extra base at the cost of a potential big inning. Yet a smiling quip about Todd Frazier’s typical walking lead stolen base attempt made for Renteria’s sharpest postgame criticism. He seemed pretty unbothered by all the aggression, least of all a disastrous suicide squeeze play where leadoff man Leury Garcia popped up a bunt, and rather than scoring, Yolmer Sanchez was doubled off third.