San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller impressing in other areas
There is a certain stereotype about the new wave of analytically driven minds in major league front offices. Despite what MoneyBall would want one to believe with Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the general image is of nerds on computers picking out which players would be best based on various metrics. To be fair, that image is pretty similar to that of bloggers as well, although they likely eat better than I do.
San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller is doing his best to end that stereotype. He showed up to a Saturday morning pickup basketball game without saying who he was and proceeded to play far better than anyone would have expected.
San Diego Padres general manager impresses on hardwood
The description of his appearance is perfect. He was described as being 5’7″ and 150 pounds, but trash talking the entire time. And then he backed up that talk, showing impressive moves and draining buckets. Afterwards, they found out that they had been playing with Preller.
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Apparently, Preller’s skills on the court are somewhat known with the Padres. There was a basketball hoop installed on the concourse at Petco Park during the pandemic, with Preller spending far more time shooting buckets than anyone else.
It is just not what anyone would expect from Preller or really most non-athletes in baseball front offices. It also does not help that Preller looks like that stereotype, the shorter, thin executive who would be more comfortable with a spreadsheet than a bat in his hands. This just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving.
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San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller showed up at a Saturday morning pickup basketball game and dominated. Who would have expected it?