Rangers Staying Mum On Pierzynski's Comments

White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski isn’t going to win a popularity contest anytime soon. He was recently voted the Most Hated Player in Baseball in a player poll conducted by Men’s Journal, and one of the more memorable moments of his career involves him being punched in the face by fellow catcher Michael Barrett.

Considering that All-Star voting is, in great part, a popularity contest then, it’s not all that surprising that Pierzynski was snubbed despite having some impressive numbers--.291 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs, as of Wednesday. Even still, Pierzynski wasn’t too happy about the snub, and Ron Washington’s comments--that he felt bad for leaving the Sox’ catcher off the roster--apparently didn’t do much to help.

 “If he felt that bad, he would have put me on the team,” Pierzynski said this week, per the Dallas Morning News. “He had an opportunity to do it and he didn’t do it. He can feel as bad as he wants, but he obviously didn’t feel that bad.”

Pierzynski also took something of a shot at American League starter Mike Napoli, pointing out that Nap isn’t having his greatest offensive season. Asked about the comments Tuesday, Napoli declined to comment. And Washington didn’t offer much more.

“I was asked a question [Sunday] and I said what I said about A.J. and it came from the heart,” Washington said. “Other than that I don’t really have a comment about it.”