This catcher got sneaky after throwing an eephus

September 21st, 2022

There’s changing speeds on the mound, and then there’s what the Phillies’ did on Tuesday night vs. the Blue Jays.

Stubbs, a position player, was called upon in the ninth inning after Toronto had already punished Phillies pitching for 18 runs on 21 hits.

His first four pitches were all of the eephus variety and all less than 40 mph, bottoming out at a leisurely 36.9 mph. Stubbs’ first eephus induced a groundout from Raimel Tapia. He then got ahead in the count 1-2 against catcher Danny Jansen, who fouled off Stubbs’ slowest offering.

But right after that molasses-like pitch, Stubbs reared back and fired a fastball at 83.8 mph just below the zone. The difference in the two pitches when shown together is jarring.

Jansen was understandably late on the offering, which gave Stubbs his first career strikeout in his fourth appearance as an MLB pitcher.