Eight times hitters were completely befuddled by pitches up and in
It's said that the hardest thing in the world is hitting a baseball. I disagree. I think the hardest thing is actually stepping into the box. After all, you're facing a guy who can throw 90-something mph fastballs in your general vicinity. Who would choose to do such a thing?
And yet, every day, hundreds of big leaguers do it so that they can bash dingers for our benefit. But how do they react when a pitch comes up and in? Here are eight of the best and most illuminating:
Let's begin with the reaction that each one of us would probably have if we were put in the batter's box.
This is the closest thing you can get to a baseball version of being "posterized" in basketball.
When Andrew McCutchen -- in his then-new Giants uniform -- faced former teammate
When you're built like a human giant, the things that would bother other players are mere annoyances. So, when Giancarlo Stanton was hit by a
Meanwhile, Gomez chose the inverse of Stanton's reaction. He went down like a tree felled in a forest:
We all know that Puig treats the batter's box like his personal playground. So, it shouldn't be a surprise when his response to pitches that buzz him on the inside part of the plate is just as interesting.
Whether it's a home run from a knee or just the good humor he's willing to have with his friends on the opposing team, Adrian Beltre is endless entertainment. And if he has to jump back from a pitch on the inside part of the plate, you'll see even more entertainment.
A squeeze play is arguably baseball's most exciting, all-or-nothing play. Fail to get the bunt down and the onrushing baserunner from third is caught dead to rights. So, when the Brewers' Hernan Perez got into his bunting squat last year against the Reds, he displayed the kind of stick-to-itiveness that only the most competitive humans can pull off.
And it's still pretty funny, too, as he collapsed to the ground after making contact.