Shohei Ohtani isn't the Next Babe Ruth, Rowdy Tellez Is

Shohei Ohtani is frequently described as this generation’s Babe Ruth and it makes sense. Ruth started his career both pitching and hitting, like Ohtani, before exclusively becoming a hitter and smashing a bajillion home runs against guys who had to rush home after the games and shower so they can head to their full-time jobs at the coal mines.

But there’s another current MLB player who has far more in common with Babe Ruth than Ohtani does.

Enter Rowdy Tellez.

Rowdy Tellez can’t stop hitting homers! pic.twitter.com/Zd1HXWndPp

— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2023

On Saturday night, Rowdy Tellez hit his 7th homer of the season in the 3rd inning of Garrett Whitlock. The Brewers would go on to beat the Red Sox 5-4 as they battle to maintain first place in the NL Central over *wipes glasses clean to be certain*.. the Pirates. Interesting.

But that Tellez home run wasn’t his first against Boston. He hit another bomb in their game Friday night.

Prior to Saturday night’s game, Rowdy Tellez was hitting .340 with a 1.184 OPS, 13 home runs, and 27 RBIs in 36 career games against the Red Sox. There have been 1,858 players who have taken at least 100 career at-bats against Boston. Tellez’s 1.184 OPS is the highest any player has against them in baseball history. The 3rd highest OPS against the Red Sox belongs to Babe Ruth.

Here’s what Tellez said about his dominance over Boston:

“I don’t know. They’re just the unfortunate team, I guess. Somebody’s always got to have one team to do better against than the others, and I guess the Sox are mine. I don’t know. I get asked that question a lot and I don’t have an answer for it.”

Here are some more nerdy stats to show how much better he is against this team: Tellez is a career .237 hitter with a .774 OPS. If you removed his numbers against Boston, he only hits .228 with a .740 OPS. For Tellez, playing the Red Sox is like when you pass Go in Monopoly and get a free $200.

The only Sox pitcher to ever give Tellez trouble was Matt Barnes. Tellez was 0-for-5 with 4 strikeouts against Barnes. Well, now Barnes is a Miami Marlin and Tellez just hit 2 homers in two games against Boston this year.

But the Rowdy Tellez/Babe Ruth comparisons can be extended to their outward appearances as well. Tellez is a throwback to a bygone era in MLB when you can be visually overweight and still be a professional athlete. Now everyone is jacked like Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo but growing up, we had Bengie Molina and Matt Stairs wheezing for air jogging to first base on a ground ball.

We also talk about how much cooler their nicknames are than their actual names. Babe is cooler than George. Rowdy is fire compared to Ryan. If Shohei Ohtani gets a nickname like Buster or Hot Rod or some shit then he can come sit at Rowdy and Babe’s table. Until then, let’s stop putting Ohtani in the same conversation as these two legends.

And I can’t not point out the biggest similarity between Rowdy Tellez and Babe Ruth: they are both white-passing Latinos. Although, Tellez’s grandfather played professionally in the Mexican Baseball League and Tellez, himself, played for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic—while Babe Ruth has been whitewashed and birth certificates have been stored wherever they keep the Holy Grail, Fountain of Youth and Donald Trump’s annual tax reports.

Pray for the Red Sox when Rowdy Tellez comes to town. A lot of fans are leaving with souvenirs when Tellez sees those red jerseys.

With their win on Saturday, Milwaukee now has the 2nd best record in baseball behind a Tampa Bay Rays team that started the season 13-0. Wade Miley has stepped up as the accidental Ace of this squad while Devin Williams is a lights-out closer recording 15.9 K/9 with 3 saves thus far.

29-year old infielder, Brian Anderson, was the steal of free agency. Christian Yelich is no longer as deadly at the plate as he was when he won the 2018 NL MVP but he has returned to being the anchor at the top of the lineup. And Willy Adames certainly belongs in the best shortstop in baseball conversation.

If the Brewers can somehow change their schedule to play Boston every night then this team is a lock to represent the NL in the World Series.

Also, let’s get Rowdy Tellez in the home run derby this year and have Chris Sale throwing to him. He’ll break a record that night.

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