Part of the appeal of the World Baseball Classic is that it features a variety of arrangements of your favorite players. It answers a fantastic question. What if every member of the Los Angeles Dodgers played for a different team? What would it look like if a team led by a bespectacled Albert Pujols had a lineup featuring Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez and Fernando Tatis Jr.? Of course. Why not?
If the WBC has the same vibe of taking dolls and making them kiss, Cal Raleigh and Randy Arozarena have the same vibe of taking dolls to court and having a messy, public divorce. When Arozarena went to bat for the first time in Monday night’s U.S.-Mexico game, he offered catcher and Seattle Mariners teammate Cal Raleigh a handshake, but he declined and instead said something to Arozarena, who bent down and listened. This isn’t the first time a catcher has refused to shake an opponent’s hand in this tournament. Australia catcher Robbie Perkins previously refused to shake Czech batsman Milan Prokop’s hand. It wasn’t the first time Arozarena was ignored by Team USA’s catcher during the WBC, but the snubber wasn’t his teammate in 2023.
When Will Smith refused to shake Arozarena’s hand, Arozarena bluntly dismissed the issue, saying, “He left me hanging, but I’m not going to cry. I just kept hitting doubles.” Arozarena seemed unbothered by Raleigh’s cold reception and left extended comments to Mexican journalist Luis Gilbert. This commentary was helpfully translated in full by Twitter user Master Flip.
How do you think I should react to Cal Raleigh? How should I tell him?
I want to speak 4 languages.
First, in Spanish: The only thing he should be thankful for is having great parents. He was very well educated. Thank you God. I had the good fortune to meet them at the hotel a few days ago. They came to greet me, gave me big hugs, and were truly proud to see me again.
After that I want to talk to him Cuban style. All he has to do is fuck!
Mexican Style: Go to Hell!
And in English: What about that fake “nice to meet you” thing he said to me? He can shove it straight up his ass. I went out.
In addition to showing off his dialect skills, Arozarena answered several questions about the incident. What did Rollie say to him at that moment? As a result, “nice to meet you” carried a debatable sincerity. Was that moment a joke between teammates? Arozarena praises Raleigh’s parents before effectively telling their son to harm himself in three different ways, so if that’s the case, they’re clearly being extreme.
It is often foolish to spend a lot of time paying attention to pleasantries or rude behavior during a competitive event. There is fun in both friendly and unfriendly competition. That is, the latter grows on the basis of reciprocity and a genuine sense that the two teams or people do not like each other. Otherwise, refusing to shake someone’s hand seems like a more stubborn argument. Especially right now, Americans’ hard-nosed patriotism is more irritating than difficult, especially in a sport like baseball where little courtesies like greeting the catcher or chatting to the first baseman are concerned. This is true even when it’s not about two players who have to be teammates and maintain a locker room culture all year long.
What happens when the LA Dodgers play different teams? Shohei Otani sets out alone to restore Korea-Japan relations. What happens when the Seattle Mariners end up playing for different teams ahead of a very important season for them? This is what I think:
Nonetheless, I’m sure this is a minor incident. Arozarena and Raleigh and good friends, and this is something they are working on little by little. Even if they don’t, they’ll talk about it in the locker room and go on to have a pain-free season. There has never been a single thing in Mariners history that wasn’t resolved in the end.
