To steal a line from my neighbor and good friend, 50 Cent, hate him or love him Adam Rosales hustles, that much can’t be denied. What I find ironic is the amount of criticism he has received for doing what every GM, coach and scout thrive on when evaluating player talent– he hustles. Even PTI got into the debate, stating that Rosales’ homerun gallop could be viewed as “showing up the pitcher” and thus a negative trait.

Really? Showing up the pitcher? When a player blasts a shot that’s clearly leaving the park, then stands idley in the batter’s box for five seconds admiring his feats of strength, rather than running the bases as would be appropriate, every Major League announcer goes crazy saying how inappropriate it is because it shows up the pitcher. I completely agree with this, and I would say that most pitchers also agree with this, which is why we see many of these players get drilled with a fastball during their next at bat.

Enter Adam Rosales, a kid so excited just to have the opportunity to play in the Bigs, that he gives everything he’s got on every play. This hustle isn’t isolated to post homerun theatrics. He sprints to first on a walk, he sprints out of the dugout each inning to take the field and he blazes around the bases on the most routine pop ups clinging to the hope that the defense commits an error so he can take advantage of the situation. Even if you don’t like the kid, to argue that he is showing people up with his hustle is ludicrous.

It’s this style of play that garnered a famous Red by the name of Pete Rose his nickname, Charlie Hustle. With the exception of a few minor bad decisions (that whole getting kicked out of baseball thing), Rose will always be immortalized for his on-field antics, regardless of whether he is ever recognized by the Hall of Fame. Every player in baseball should be watching and admiring how Rosales plays the game, the way it used to be played before inflated egos and bank accounts got in the way.

Oh, and if you needed another reason to love this kid, he might actually be the real Louis Skolnick, the leader of the Lamda Lamda Lamdas in Revenge of the Nerds, which in itself is praiseworthy.  Aside from the fact they look like twins, Rosales and Skolnick both put heavy focus on their “stoke technique”…