Second baseman Jose Rondon's pitches were too slow for the Red Sox and radar guns
In general, when it comes to pitching, throwing harder is better. Pitchers are always looking to add velocity to their fastball to make it harder for hitters to catch up with it. Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks has become one of the most dominant pitchers in the game by virtue of being the hardest-throwing pitcher in the game.
But for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. On Friday night, White Sox second baseman Jose Rondon showed that's as true for pitching as it is for anything else. He came in for the 9th inning of a 6-1 game and proceeded to overwhelm -- or would it be underwhelm? -- hitters with some low-50s heat.
Jose Rondon 50.7 mph eephus 🌈 pic.twitter.com/9YbUbA6Oq2
— David Adler (@_dadler) May 4, 2019
It turns out that it wasn't just the hitters who were flummoxed by Rondon's lack of velocity. He was throwing the ball so slow that even Statcast radars had problems picking it up.
This is what Jose Rondon's lollypop pitches look like, at least the 59 MPH ones that were tracked. (The others were too slow.)
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 4, 2019
It's 6-1, by the way. This is ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/H9lX4Vx5ua
It's an aspiration of many a young pitcher to throw a ball so hard it breaks a radar gun.
Rondon showed that throwing hard isn't the only way to go about that task. He broke the radar gun -- and pitched a scoreless inning -- by throwing the ball too slow. Now that's an achievable goal we can all strive for!
Eric Chesterton is a writer for MLB.com. He is an appreciator of the stolen base, the bunt against the shift and nearly every unconventional uniform design. He eagerly awaits Jamie Moyer's inevitable comeback.
