Jorge Posada didn’t mince words. The four-time World Series champion and longtime Yankees catcher, one of the pillars of the legendary Core Four alongside Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte, unloaded on today’s game during a recent appearance on Abriendo El Podcast. His verdict? He literally can’t watch it.
“The baseball being played today is garbage,” Posada said, criticizing a sport that has become overly robotic, formula-driven, and tolerant of outcomes that would have been unacceptable in his era.
Posada’s main gripe centers on how heavily analytics now dictate the game. Launch angle, exit velocity, defensive shifts (before the rules changes), and strikeout-heavy approaches have turned baseball into something that feels more like a spreadsheet than the gritty, instinctual game he knew.
He pointed to the acceptance of high strikeout totals as a prime example. In the Core Four dynasty years, striking out 100 times in a season was a mark of failure — a sign you weren’t doing your job at the plate. Today, players can whiff 150–200 times, post batting averages in the .200 range, launch 30+ home runs, and still command superstar contracts.
Posada’s message was clear: the game may be “smarter” on paper thanks to advanced metrics, but it’s gotten dumber between the lines. The emphasis on putting the ball in play, advancing runners, situational hitting, and manufacturing runs has been largely replaced by an all-or-nothing power approach.
Of course, it’s worth noting some context from Posada’s own playing days. He came up and starred during the heart of the Steroid Era on a loaded All-Star roster in the Bronx. The late-90s/early-2000s Yankees didn’t win those four titles through pure small ball or scraping for runs. They won because they stacked star talent on top of star talent — from Jeter and Posada himself to Bernie Williams, Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, and a dominant pitching staff led by Rivera and Pettitte.
That powerhouse approach delivered results in an era of inflated offense, but Posada still values the fundamentals and baseball IQ that complemented the raw talent.
The Yankees legend also pushed back against modern analytics purists who try to diminish Derek Jeter’s defensive reputation strictly through today’s defensive metrics and computer models.
“You can’t judge Jeter through a computer,” Posada said — a line that perfectly captures the old-school Yankees ethos of trusting what you see with your own eyes over cold data.
Jeter’s leadership, range, and intangibles helped anchor one of the most successful franchises in MLB history. Reducing that to a handful of defensive numbers, in Posada’s view, misses the bigger picture.
Posada’s comments arrive at a time when baseball continues to grapple with pace-of-play issues, declining batting averages league-wide, and debates over how the sport is best presented to fans. While analytics have undeniably improved player development, injury prevention, and in-game strategy, critics like Posada argue they’ve also stripped away some of the soul and variability that made baseball captivating for generations.
Fans of the 1990s and early 2000s Yankees teams remember a style built on fundamentals, clutch hitting, and relentless competitiveness — even if it was supercharged by elite rosters. Posada’s frustration resonates with those who long for more action, fewer strikeouts, and a return to small-ball elements that keep games exciting from the first pitch to the last out.
For a Hall of Fame-caliber player like Jorge Posada, who lived through the glory years in the Bronx, the current product simply doesn’t feel like the baseball he loves.
What do you think? Has modern analytics ruined baseball, or is it necessary evolution? Does the steroid-era power game get a pass that today’s analytics-driven approach doesn’t?
