Fox Broadcaster John Smoltz is again in discussion. And surely enough, it’s again for all the negative reasons. As Team USA is currently leading by 2-1 against the Dominican Republic, Smoltz’s reported “anti-USA” rant caught the viewers off guard and took no time to spark outrage. In what could be an immense effort by Team USA shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. in the field, Smoltz chose to argue against the effort, causing the fans to call out the veteran broadcaster.

“I prefer the shortstops of the late 80s. They wouldn’t get to that ball, but they knew exactly where to be as the cut-off man for the outfielder. Those fundamentals are lost in today’s game.” Sports trainer Gerry DeFilippo quoted John Smoltz.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Dominican Republic’s Machado hit Team USA’s  Griffin Jax to the left, only to be fielded by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. His throw was smooth and landed perfectly in the first baseman, Bryce Harper’s glove. In result, Machado is out and left USA fans cheering. But not Smoltz.

He still found fault in today’s shortstops like Bobby Witt. From his announcer booth, Smoltz ranted about how the shortstops from the 80s were more strategic about their field placement. Surely, there are a few names back in the 80s, like Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr., and Alan Trammell, who were absolute beasts at shortstop, but raw offensive power was not there at that time.

In the current era in baseball, when power-hitting gets the most focus, the 80s era had the flexibility to be more focused on defense. As a result, we witnessed a few historic moments and a few looks like shortstops are just standing between the hitter and the outfielder. But in today’s power-hitting era, the shortstops need to cover the field. Just what Bobby Witt Jr. has done.

Fans understand this and are calling out John Smoltz for being “anti-USA and countering anything going better with Team USA.

John Smoltz gets called out by the fans

If Smoltz had any issues with baseball, fans wondered. “Does John Smoltz even like baseball?” one fan said. “There’s no way John Smoltz actually likes baseball,” another added.

Well, this is not the first time John Smoltz has faced heat for his commentary. In the game where Italy dominated Team USA, Smoltz was called out for using the f-bomb during live broadcasting. This time, although Bobby Witt Jr. made a good fielding effort, Smoltz is still not very impressed. So, the fans wonder what’s wrong with the announcer.

“John Smoltz sounds so disappointed,” another user marked. “John Smoltz is actually really terrible at his job. I always groan when he’s on the team that covers my team for a national broadcast,” added another.

So, fans are wondering if Smoltz is disappointed watching Team USA win the semifinal. Even for a few fans, Smoltz in the announcer booth means the broadcast would be hard to watch. Even Sportico’s Dan Bernstein seems to support this narrative. “I would turn him off completely,” Bernstein said on the podcast. “He does not like baseball, and it is apparently his mission to make you, the viewer, not like baseball and not appreciate anything. Just somehow finds everything distasteful or against the better nature of the game.”

That shows how John Smoltz accumulated a larger narrative against him. However, if you remember, Smoltz took a stand against the criticisms when Aaron Judge was targeted last year for the Yankees’ poor show. Smoltz called out the trollers, and just as Aaron Judge is leading Team USA now, fans can’t help but wonder what made Smoltz go against the team. “It can’t be stated enough how awful John Smoltz is,” one fan said.