There’s a quote, usually falsely attributed to C.S. Lewis, calling experience “that most brutal of teachers.” (It ends: “But you learn. My God, do you learn,” and maybe that’s the part that should tip people off that this isn’t the work of the devout Lewis.) If we’re already mucking about with quote attribution then, why not just change the whole thing: baseball, that most brutal of teachers.
When Alberto Rodríguez came over from the Blue Jays organization in the Taijuan Walker deal in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, he was flying high. Not only was he joining a new organization that clearly wanted him, but he was going to play at the same level, in the same organization with his childhood best friend, Noelvi Marte, someone he considers a brother.