Randy Arozarena is a man of the people.
Arozarena was stunningly traded from the Rays to the Mariners earlier this week.
However, instead of making a beeline for Seattle, Arozarena made the rare gesture of soaking in some last moments with Rays fans, sitting in the stands for the team’s game against the Reds at Tropicana Field on Friday night.
The Rays announcers Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson were in awe of the move.
“That’s Randy,” Anderson, the color commentator, said, as covered by Awful Announcing. “Randy Arozarena with the family in the stan — OK, that’s weird. You know, seeing Zach Eflin in an Orioles uniform was weird. This is next-level weird.”
“I’ve never seen that,” Staats, the play-by-play broadcaster, said. “You know, collectively, we’ve been around the game a few months. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Anderson said what everyone was thinking: “Usually, Seattle’s like, ‘You’re on your way, right?’”
The announcers continued to marvel.
“How cool is that?” Anderson said.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that before like that,” reiterated Staats.
Anderson, who pitched for the Angels, Cleveland, Diamondbacks and Royals during an MLB career that spanned from 1993 through 2005, spoke about how jarring midseason trades could be.
“You can imagine what his emotions were when he found out,” he said.
“There wasn’t a lot of — the rumors weren’t swirling. We were stuck on the plane. We got off the plane and there’s the news. It was very surreal.”
The Rays received outfielder Aidan Smith and pitcher Brody Hopkins in return for Arozarena.
Arozarena, the 2021 AL Rookie of the Year and a 2023 All-Star, entered Saturday batting .211 with 15 home runs, 37 RBIs and a .712 OPS this season.
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