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Not a sports guy, don't watch any of them, but know the basic rules of baseball. Can someone explain why the pitcher was pitching so slow?

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“ All of baseball’s unwritten rules are stupid, but there’s something especially irritating about the ones that tell you not to try your hardest when the game is out of reach. In a sport where (via the salary arbitration system) players are paid based on their statistics, it’s wrong to ask them to take their foot off the gas when the outcome is no longer in doubt.

One such rule dictates that you shouldn’t swing at a 3–0 pitch when your team is up big late in the game. And you definitely shouldn’t swing on 3–0 when a position player is pitching.

But that’s exactly what White Sox rookie Yermín Mercedes did on Monday against the Twins.

With Chicago up 15–3 in the ninth, Minnesota sent utilityman Willians Astudillo in to pitch. Just as he did in his first pitching appearance of the season, Astudillo floated pitches toward the plate at speeds that should be physically impossible. Statcast was only able to pick up five of Astudillo’s 12 pitches, but his slowest recorded pitch of the night, which induced a Nick Madrigal groundout for the final out of the inning, was a preposterous 45.8 mph. Timing a pitch that slow can be impossible, but not for Mercedes.

Astudillo fell behind 3–0 on Mercedes and then lofted a towering eephus pitch, which was clocked at 47.1 mph. The unwritten rules dictate that Mercedes should have let it go by, but the meatball was too appetizing. He sat back and walloped it for a monster home run. “


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Thank you, btfc.

Learned a new word today:

Eephus
noun (plural eephuses) Baseball

a slow pitch that travels in a high arc:—the eephus is a challenge to throw effectively.

ORIGIN
1930s (originally with reference to the quality of pitching exceptionally well)—origin unknown. The current meaning dates from the 1940s and is associated especially with the pitcher Truett “Rip” Sewell (1907–89) of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2021 10:14AM by tuqqer.

The only eephus pitcher I ever saw pitch was Luis Tiant, and his pitches were at least over 50mph, up to 60.

But it was pure pleasure watching him pitch, though some batters eventually figured him out.

I'm with the batter - you send me stupid pitches and they cross the plate, I'm gonna swing.

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Lew Zealand
The only eephus pitcher I ever saw pitch was Luis Tiant, and his pitches were at least over 50mph, up to 60.

But it was pure pleasure watching him pitch, though some batters eventually figured him out.

I'm pretty sue I saw Tom Seaver throw one or two back in the day.

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Embarassing myself on the Internet since 1978.

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Lew Zealand
The only eephus pitcher I ever saw pitch was Luis Tiant, and his pitches were at least over 50mph, up to 60.

But it was pure pleasure watching him pitch, though some batters eventually figured him out.

Luis accompanied his pitches with enough body moves on the mound to be called a dance, it was mesmerizing to some batters.

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RgrF

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Lew Zealand
The only eephus pitcher I ever saw pitch was Luis Tiant, and his pitches were at least over 50mph, up to 60.

But it was pure pleasure watching him pitch, though some batters eventually figured him out.

Luis accompanied his pitches with enough body moves on the mound to be called a dance, it was mesmerizing to some batters.

Yes! I always got the impression that after he left the mound he left behind some very confused bees looking for honey in the opposing dugout.

He's not a pitcher, that's why.

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jardster
He's not a pitcher, that's why.

They ran out of pitchers.

White Sox manager Tony LaRussa has said that Mercedes will be disciplined for his hit. He ignored a sign to take the pitch.

"I heard he said something like, 'I play my game.' No he doesn't. He plays the game of Major League Baseball, respects the game, respects the opponents. And he's got to respect the signs."

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Tatis, Jr would've walloped that pitch too. And he would've danced all the way around the bases. People would've cheered for him all over the country.

Of course, as an almost rookie making somewhere far north of $300 million dollars, he can do pretty much whatever he wants.

A rookie making the MLB minimum better buckle down and follow the unwritten rules… or at least get fined by the team by ignoring a take sign. And that's what will happen. But it wouldn't happen if he was Tatis, Jr.

There's a bit of disjuncture there…

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bfd
Tatis, Jr would've walloped that pitch too. And he would've danced all the way around the bases. People would've cheered for him all over the country.

Of course, as an almost rookie making somewhere far north of $300 million dollars, he can do pretty much whatever he wants.

A rookie making the MLB minimum better buckle down and follow the unwritten rules… or at least get fined by the team by ignoring a take sign. And that's what will happen. But it wouldn't happen if he was Tatis, Jr.

There's a bit of disjuncture there…

He laid waste to the Dodgers that that last series. grrr