Since his arrival in the MLB 15 years ago, Manny Machado has been considered one of the most controversial players in the game.

But according to one of his former teammates, that might not be true.

Macahdo’s former Baltimore Orioles teammate, Adam Jones, appeared as a guest on “All the Smoke” and told former Lakers star Matt Barnes and former MLB player Harold Reynolds that Machado is not the villain he’s portrayed to be.

“Obviously he gets some bad rap for some things but, that dude is awesome,” Jones said. “He’s a gamer. You can look at his games played; it’s on the back of his card. He posts up every day. Everybody’s going through aches and bruises, but he posts up.”

For most of Machado’s career, he was teammates with Jones until their final moments with the Orioles.

Machado was traded by Baltimore to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018, while Jones would leave that same season in free agency.

As Jones mentioned, Machado’s had some moments that don’t look the best on his resume, including in 2014, when he flung his bat across the infield towards former Oakland A’s third baseman Alberto Callaspo.

In 2017, he cleated former Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia while sliding into second base and would end up giving him a career-ending injury.

When Machado joined the San Diego Padres in 2019, he was asked about that moment and said “it sucks.”

Aside from a few dirty plays, Machado was also well known for his “flashy swagger” that he brought to the field – notoably for some of the iconic chains he would wear around his neck during games.

While Jones recalled Machado being a great teammate, Reynolds rebuffed him and asked him about conversations they had together and proceeded to call him a “knucklehead.”

“I think he’s misunderstood,” Jones said. “He’s from Miami. You just gave him $5.5 million. I would have turned up too.”

Jones went on to say that being teammates with Machado was simple.

“He’s the third overall pick. Talent is through the roof,” Jones said. “All you need to do is keep him focused. That’s it. I’m not going to police this guy.”

Since Machado has been in San Diego, he’s quietly changed the narrative of his career from being a “knucklehead” and has become a leader in the Padres locker room, including playing a big part in mentoring Fernando Tatis Jr. when he was called up in 2019.