A pitch between the hitter's legs -- for a strike!

May 16th, 2022

Phillies outfielder Odúbel Herrera rarely sees a pitch he doesn’t like. There might be no better visual representation of Herrera’s plate discipline -- or lack thereof -- than what happened during his at-bat versus Dodgers reliever Yency Almonte in Sunday's 5-4 Dodgers win.

As Almonte unleashed a 2-1 slider, Herrera swung with all his might and missed. Why? Because the pitch ended up going between his legs.

It should be noted that Herrera’s chase rate entering Sunday was 48.7 percent, the fourth-highest in MLB among hitters with at least 50 plate appearances this season. But at least his swinging strike didn’t also become a painful one, like what happened to Rays catcher Francisco Mejía earlier this week when he went after a curveball that nailed him on the hip.