HOUSTON — A.J. Pierzynski laughed at the comparison this week.
There are easy dots to connect between Pierzynski and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing, two men who don’t have much of a relationship but now occupy a similar space as catchers who have developed something of a reputation for shenanigans.
Pierzynski was once voted MLB’s most hated player in a survey of 100 major leaguers. Over the past few weeks, Rushing flashed a similar edge, an emerging personality, at age 25. Since Opening Day, he’s run afoul of the Rockies, Cubs, Giants and umpires. It’s no fluke. Rushing had the same reputation in the minors.
Is Rushing baseball’s next heel?
“Do I see some similarities? Absolutely,” Pierzynski said by phone this week. “He doesn’t bother me. I mean, I think he might bother some other people. I think it’s great. He plays the way he has to play. He just plays with passion. You can tell that he loves to play. He wants to win. He shows that. I don’t know why that is a bad thing.”
Pierzynski, a 19-year big league veteran, was a polarizing figure in his playing days. He was a fierce competitor, but an even fiercer agitator, which earned him a reputation as one of the game’s most antagonizing players. But within the walls of each of the seven clubhouses he spent time in during his career, he was equally respected for his tenacity, hustle and commitment to his teammates.
As Rushing enters his second major-league season, the same words once used to describe Pierzsynski are now being applied to Rushing: cocky, combative and competitive. It’s true that the 25-year-old is starting to make a name for himself. But he’s pushing back on the reason why.
“I think guys have started to like, give me the label of (villain),” Rushing said. “I just think that’s me competing at the highest level and not allowing any outside source to kind of get in my way.”
After a friction-filled first month, The Athletic spoke with Rushing, teammates, coaches and executives who have been around the surprise slugger to get a better understanding of the former top prospect suddenly under scrutiny. Each spoke of a confident and competitive figure who, along with his clear talents, has always had a chip on his shoulder.
To recap his opening month, Rushing …
Accused the Colorado Rockies of “fishy” swing decisions in a game.
Appeared say “f— ’em” when looking back at the injured Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee, sparking a back-and-forth.
Appeared to call Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya a “fat f—.”
Appeared to feud with home-plate umpire Clint Vondrak before flipping an iPad onto the bench and, the next day, made an exaggerated timeout call.
Dalton Rushing argues with home plate umpire Clint Vondrak after he was called for strike three on a pitch clock violation. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
While the former top prospect has surpassed all expectations on the field in the first month of his first full season in the major leagues, it seems all anyone can talk about when discussing Rushing is who he’s apparently antagonized that given day.
Rushing is aware of the scrutiny, even if he hasn’t watched some of the clips that internet sleuths have circulated. “The social media side of it is, they’re never gonna miss,” he said. “They’re gonna find every avenue they can to make a bit about it.”
The hubbub has also caught the attention of those who know him best. He has an ally in steady and calm teammate Freddie Freeman, even if the two personalities could not be further apart.
“Dalton can sometimes black out on a baseball field, but he believes in himself,” Freeman said. “He cares so much about wanting to be good, so you can’t fault someone for that. That would just be taking away something from who Dalton Rushing is. So for me, I’m not gonna ever tell him not to do that. I mean, maybe watch what you’re saying on cameras, you know, and stuff like that.
“You just try and throw up some bumpers in the bowling lane.”
“It’s a little fishy”
Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing couldn’t figure out how the Rockies were connecting on so many first-pitch swings pic.twitter.com/X7E4gCqFgr
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 19, 2026
His previous coaches echo the support, pointing to Rushing’s demeanor and intensity as a positive.
“It’s easy to critique,” said Dan McDonnell, Rushing’s coach at the University of Louisville. “But for those that are in the battlefield, man, it’s hard to not love a guy that, it matters. You know what I’m saying? It matters to him.”
“He can be polarizing at times,” said Billy Gasparino, the Dodgers’ assistant general manager who helps run their drafts. “I think the one thing that stands out to me is he loves baseball. He’s super knowledgeable. He loves to talk. Behind the intense competitor, there’s like a pretty good guy in there that likes his teammates and would do anything for them.”
That said, Rushing’s graduation into red-assery, to borrow a classic baseball term, is up to how people choose to interpret his behavior. He can be seen as a dogged competitor who used his edge to push his way to the big leagues. He could also be a guy who can rub his opponents the wrong way.
The backup catcher does not want this.
“I don’t want guys to look at me as a bad guy on and off the field,” Rushing said. “But at the same time, I’m not going to change my game. I’m going to play the same way that I have. I’m going to control the things that are said.”
Dalton Rushing reiterated postgame he cleared the air with Jung Hoo Lee. Asked how he interpreted the HBP, Rushing said:
“Whatever they want to call it. I like getting on base. I’ll take it.”
— Katie Woo (@katiejwoo) April 23, 2026
As Rushing sees more playing time, the baseball world sees more of what can be described as aggravating antics. Rushing’s presence in the news cycle has made him a point of conversation for the two-time defending World Series champions. What happens next is pivotal as he navigates the next stretch of his career. Even before the Dodgers’ temperamental catcher has a full-time job, he’ll have to consider how he wants to be remembered.
“I don’t wish anybody to walk down the path that I had to walk through my entire career, always answering questions, always having to defend yourself and then you feel bad,” Pierzynski said. “Your teammates have to defend you all the time. I’m very thankful that my teammates did that. But if that’s the way I had to do it, that’s the way I had to do it.
“If that’s the way Dalton has to do it, then you know what? Go do it because he’s proven he’s a pretty damn good player.”
Rushing’s edge has always been clear, even when he first arrived on campus as a surprise commit out of Memphis, Tenn.
Louisville’s depth chart made it difficult for Rushing to get on the field. He shared a catcher’s room with Henry Davis, the eventual No. 1 overall pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Jack Payton, an eventual finalist for the Buster Posey Award given to college baseball’s best catcher.
That didn’t stop Rushing from asserting his place, or from even being assertive in doing so. He stirred things up enough for McDonnell, the longtime Louisville coach, to dismiss him from more than one practice.
But Rushing didn’t act out, McDonnell said. Instead, how Rushing responded to the discipline painted a fuller picture of who he is.
“Some kids could try to fight ya,” McDonnell said. “His was never (that). His was a, ‘I know, I understand, I apologize.’ (He was a) very sweet, respectful kid off the field. So that’s what you realize in some of these athletes, man. … That’s what some of the great ones have, man. I’m a different character when it’s time to play ball.’”
Harvey Shapiro, who coached Rushing with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod League, had a similar experience. Like McDonnell, the coach saw his fiery side as a positive.
“He’s not the just strike out or go 0-for-5 and look like you couldn’t care less and casually walk back and put your helmet in the rack,” McDonnell said. “He was never like that.
That just wasn’t him. He was just very emotional.”
It helps that everywhere he’s gone, he’s hit. When Rushing was dominating his final season at Louisville, crushing 23 home runs in just 64 games, the Dodgers coveted him ahead of the 2022 MLB Draft. Gasparino struggled to figure out what was and wasn’t real about Rushing’s draft stock. The organization saw him as a first-round pick. The league-wide consensus, less so.
“Like, what am I missing here?” Gasparino recalls his scouts saying in draft meetings. “This all adds up so well. I don’t care what the rankings or industry thinks, we should like this guy. We should be on this guy.”
The Dodgers didn’t have a first-round pick, so they selected him with the first choice of the second round. His career — and his reputation — were about to take off.
Rushing’s competitive streak was obvious, according to multiple people who watched him at several levels of the minors. According to one story, Rushing faced a major leaguer back in the minors on a rehab start. The veteran pitcher retired the young catcher on a groundout, but Rushing still returned to the bench and crowed that if that’s all the pitcher had, “he’s in f—ing trouble.”
It’s not something Rushing is conscious of in the moment.
“I think it’s just out of instinct … that’s how I play,” Rushing said. “I don’t want to talk smack. If I do, it’s out of instinct, and it’s out of competitive nature. For a long time in my life, I played football, and that’s how you compete. You let them know how you feel, and you express your feelings physically.”
Dalton Rushing called time very emphatically this time pic.twitter.com/tI5fH4Dcgv
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 29, 2026
Rushing continued to perform throughout the minor leagues, producing a .933 OPS over parts of four seasons before earning his big-league debut last May. He struggled upon his arrival, but didn’t cause much of a stir then.
He had little reason to, as he looked to gain his footing behind stalwart catcher Will Smith. By the time October rolled around, Rushing had played his way out of the picture entirely.
He spent the ensuing offseason trying to embrace his backup role. He received help and support along the way, including from Smith.
That self-reflection led to Rushing’s best performance to date at the plate. It’s also led to everyone getting to know a different side of Rushing.
“My favorite thing on this earth is competing,” Rushing said. “And I think anyone that knows me personally knows that.”
Still, Rushing knows he needs to dial things down.
Pierzynski’s playing days largely happened before the rise of social media. Lip-reading was something buddies did while sitting on the couch watching the game, not captured and broken down for hundreds of thousands of viewers.
“Luckily for me, I didn’t give a s—,” said Pierzynski, now a co-host on Foul Territory, and a Fox Sports analyst. “There were times where we were like, all right, I don’t want to have to deal with this. I wish I didn’t have to deal with this, but at the end of the day, I mean, it actually (gave) me a little bit of, I would say notoriety.”
The ever-growing popularity of viral clips — in addition to Rushing’s increasing playing time — has led to Rushing being a lightning rod for clicks. It isn’t always fair, his teammates argue, as a few of his captured antics are regular occurrences within the game.
“Seventy, eighty percent of the players out there are saying things, but they’re not getting caught on camera often,” Miguel Rojas said. “We don’t want to really make a big deal out of him, because that’s not the guy that we’re seeing every single day inside the locker room.
“If that would be the case, I think we would have a problem. But I don’t think what’s going on and him going viral out there — it’s looking like every series he’s doing something — is the kind of guy that he is with us inside.”
Pierzynski said the key is maintaining authenticity, even if he curbs his behavior. Pierzynski pointed to Bryce Harper, whose early days with the Washington Nationals included a fiery personality.
Teammates don’t want Rushing to eradicate his competitiveness. They want him to channel it. In fact, they’re already having fun with it.
When Rushing struck out as a pinch-hitter to end Saturday’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, cameras showed him kicking his right leg out in frustration as he stormed down the dugout steps. So by Sunday, when the Dodgers collected a hit, they started kicking their leg out.
“We’re just kicking out bad energy,” Freeman quipped.
The Dodgers’ production team created a video this spring in which the two-time reigning World Series champions embrace the role of villains. The clip features a series of narrators who have played antiheroes in popular culture, including Jason Bateman and Bryan Cranston.
That clip, which is accompanied by a popular Billie Eilish track, spells it out: the Dodgers are willing to be the “bad guy.” The ensuing montage doesn’t heavily include Rushing, whose behavior in the opening weeks of the season has pointed to him being baseball’s newest antagonist.
Whether he makes the sequel remains in question.
The Dodgers want Rushing to work on his diplomacy. They’ve had conversations with him, much like McDonnell and other coaches have done with him in years prior. When the incident happened with Lee, Rushing commissioned Hyeseong Kim to help broker peace. Same with Amaya, as Rushing looked to connect with Cubs teammate Nico Hoerner to try to paper over any ill feelings.
Amaya said this week that Rushing’s actions were “nothing that bothers me.”
“But if stuff like this keeps going and continues, wherever we face each other again, and if he keeps saying stuff, we’ve got to put a stop to it,” Amaya continued.
Then again, two weeks ago in Denver, Ryan Ward earned his first big-league call-up after seven seasons in the minors.
Rushing was supposed to start that Sunday, but when Roberts approached him Saturday night to ask if he’d be willing to sit in favor of Ward, Rushing agreed. He offered to have Ward start in his place, saying the infielder had earned it more than any other player he’d played with. Given Rushing’s own fight for playing time, the gesture stuck with Roberts.
“That just speaks to Dalton’s being a teammate and getting it,” Roberts said. “There’s just certain things you gotta do that are the right thing.”
This is the version that Rushing and everyone else near him wants people to see.
“Hopefully, anyone who knows me outside of a baseball field knows the person that I am, how much I care about people, the things I would do for literally anyone,” Rushing said. “But yeah, I think there’s been a little mix-up of the image recently.”
This can be Rushing’s breakout year. The Dodgers are just hoping he can be a household name for reasons other than what he’s done lately.
— Patrick Mooney contributed to this report.