Todd Frazier threw his bat at the ball and hit a three-run homer with a very unassuming swing
What's one of those platitudes we all heard in Little League, whether from coaches or our own parents, hoping that we'd one day become All-Stars? "Put the ball in play; good things can happen."
It's definitely true, and is reinforced daily when watching just about any game. The most recent example came in the Yankees' 8-1 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series presented by Camping World on Monday night, courtesy of New York third baseman
With two runners on in the second inning, he reached out on an outside pitch from Astros right-hander
Todd Frazier's home run swing pic.twitter.com/EgWgUOVQSP
— David Adler (@_dadler) October 17, 2017
Not exactly the home run swing you'd expect, right? But that's all it took, thanks to a 95-mph fastball from Morton and a well-timed (if not "pretty") swing from Frazier. Even so, the likelihood of a swing like that actually clearing the wall? Not good:
Frazier's HR had an exit velo of 100.5 mph with a launch angle of 21 degrees. Balls hit at those numbers go for HRs 6% of time, per Statcast
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) October 17, 2017
But you know what? It still counted, and Frazier was pumped:
As were his teammates back at home plate:
"That home run that I hit was unorthodox, but I'll take 100 like that," Frazier said to FS1 after the game. "It wasn't as nice as Frank Thomas, how he does, The Big Hurt. But it was something, so we'll take it. It got us going early."
The moral of this story, as always: Put the ball in play; anything can happen.
Tune in to Game 4 of the ALCS presented by Camping World on Tuesday, 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
