In the normal course you’d think that the opinion of baseball people, especially old school baseball people, would be, at worst, evenly split between Jose Bautista and Rougned Odor but maybe more on Bautista’s side of things. He’s the more experienced veteran. His act -- a slide that, while some may consider dirty, old school baseball types would consider “hard” -- was less over-the-top than a punch. And, of course, there were already a lot of stories floating around about Odor’s allegedly bad attitude or bad behavior.
However, to some close to the game, it seems like Odor is being perceived as the better actor here. Jon Heyman observes that at least, and a future Hall of Famer weighs in on why:
May wanna look more into the personalities involved. Shouldn't be surprised at all.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) May 17, 2016
Basically, Jones is saying, that people in the game hate Jose Bautista.
I can’t recall stories that implied that Bautista wasn’t well-liked before. Certainly not before the bat flip last October. And even then, most of the anti-Bautista bat flip sentiment came from retired dudes. It makes me wonder if people don’t like him for other reasons. Or if that bat flip really was a truly divisive thing among more than the retired set. Or, alternatively, if people in the game just like that Odor’s punch landed so cleanly and are getting off on that.
So much drama.