Hernan Perez isn't a pitcher, but his shimmy on the mound certainly makes him look like one
Being a pitcher is about disrupting the hitter's timing as much as it is actually throwing pitches.
Hernan Perez isn't a pitcher, but he took the hill anyway in Tuesday night's Marlins-Brewers game at Miller Park. With Milwaukee trailing, 16-0, Perez navigated a clean ninth inning to avoid having to use another pitcher out of the bullpen. In doing so, he exhibited an 80-grade wiggle on the mound that no doubt disrupted the concentration of any man who strode to the plate:
I'll go out on a limb and directly cite Perez's wiggle as part of the reason he sailed through the ninth without any resistance from the Marlins offense. We've seen the benefits of a good mound shimmy over the years, as Johnny Cueto can certainly attest.
After the game, Perez cited teammate Alex Claudio as an inspiration for the wiggle:
“I was thinking about that a long time ago. I did it this time," he told MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.
Perez also incorporated a leg kick into his motion, something he said was also the result of some in-game preparation:
“It was in the sixth inning, we were losing by a lot and I thought I was going to pitch and I went to YouTube to see some crazy mechanics pitching."
When you're a position player that gets to pitch. You go all out.https://t.co/MEcBESWEqC pic.twitter.com/QGscR5Hikp
— Cut4 (@Cut4) June 5, 2019
On second thought, maybe Perez should be considered a part-time pitcher. Shimmy in his repertoire, he's now made six career pitching appearances, and five have been scoreless outings (let’s ignore the one where he allowed five runs).
Infielder Travis Shaw has definitely noticed Perez's pitching prowess, too:
“Every time he pitches he does a good," Shaw told MLB.com. "I think he had that one blowup in LA last year. Outside of that, every time he comes in he seems to put up a zero. Lightened the mood a little bit. Saves an arm in the ‘pen. Turn the page and start over tomorrow.”
That was also at the core of what Perez was trying to do on the mound:
“I think everybody enjoys what I did. That’s what I was trying to do, trying to forget all the struggles. Try to come tomorrow with another mentality and go get them.”
The dude is versatile.
Adrian Garro joined MLB.com in 2016. Throughout his travels, both Bartolo Colon and Vin Scully have placed their hands on his shoulders. Not at the same time, though. That'd be amazing.
