What do MLB players without kids think?
Adam LaRoche, his son Drake and Chicago White Sox management have given us the most unexpectedly contentious topic of baseball’s spring training this year: How often should kids be allowed in MLB clubhouses? The Drake LaRoche case in which the White Sox asked that 14-year-old Drake not come around so often, and his father Adam responded by retiring in a fit has inspired fiery responses in both comment sections and clubhouses.
Other teams have explained their policies about having kids in the clubhouse.
If anybody’s going to get annoyed by the presence of a kid running around a big-league clubhouse, it’s someone who doesn’t have one of their own.
So as the public objects, “Well, I can’t bring my kid to work everyday,” what gets lost in that is that baseball isn’t a normal job with normal rules.
Rougned Odor is the youngest starter on the Texas Rangers’ roster, but certainly not the youngest in the Rangers’ clubhouse, where Prince Fielder Adrian Beltre, Shin-Soo Choo, Robinson Chirinos and others bring their kids around regularly.
Some, like LaRoche, get to bring their kids around.
Which brings up another caveat: If players do have a problem with a kid in the clubhouse, they’re likely not going to speak to the media about it First, it’s one of those what-happens-here-stays-here type of things.