A.J. Pierzynski is one of the most hated athletes in the MLB, but he’s also is great at guarding the plate on defense. The other good thing about Pierzynski is that he hits for power. The flaw is that the runners run on him fairly easy, he’s an all or nothing hitter and his strong and colourful personality can get the best of him at times.
A.J. Pierzynski would make his MLB debut on September 9, 1998 for the Minnesota Twins. He would only appear in 49 games from 1998-2000. In 2001, Pierzynski became a regular starter. He would go on to play for the Twins for 2 more seasons before getting traded to the San Francisco Giants. He would only play one season in San Francisco and he would sign with the Chicago White Sox in 2005 as a free agent. The White Sox would make the playoffs that year and they would sweep the Boston Red Sox 3-0. The White Sox faced the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and would beat them 4-1 to advance to the World Series. Pierzynski was involved in a controversial call in Game 2 of ALCS. Pierzynski swung at a pitch Kelvim Escobar threw him for strike three. Then, the Angels thought the inning was over, Pierzynski ran to first base in case that the umpires ruled that Josh Paul didn’t catch the strike three pitch legally. The ruling from the umpire is that Pierzynski is safe at first since the ball hit the ground first and then it went into the catcher’s glove. Pierzynski would be replaced by a pinch runner, Pablo Ozuna and would eventually score the winning run. In the World Series, the White Sox would sweep the Houston Astros 4-0 to win their first world series since 1917. He would continue to be the White Sox starting catcher from 2006-Present.
A.J. Pierzynski has been in a lot of controversies since coming into the league. After Pierzynski had been dealt to the White Sox in 2005 of January, there was a story that claimed Pierzynski kneeing Giants trainer Stan Conte in the groin during a spring training game in 2004. He took a pitch to the groin and Stan Conte came rushing to his aid. Conte asked him how he felt and Pierzynski grunted “Like this!” and then kneed Conte in the balls. I don’t understand why Pierzynski would knee Conte in the balls when he went to check up on him. On May 20, 2006, he was involved in an altercation with Michael Barrett during the Chicago Cross-town Classic. During the bottom of the 2nd inning, Brian Anderson hit a sac fly and Pierzynski would collide with Barrett which would knock Barrett down. Pierzynski would touch home plate in a cocky manner. When Pierzynski got up, Barrett would punch him and it led to both teams dugout being emptied. Barrett and Pierzynski would both be ejected and Barrett would get a 10 game suspension, while Pierzynski was fined.
Pierzynski is a person that you love to hate except for White Sox fans and players inside the clubhouse. I think that if Pierzynski continues to cause controversy, I think that someone should shut him up for good.

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