The five biggest needs for the Browns heading into the 2018 NFL Draft
April 3, 2018The Road to Wrestlemania 34
April 3, 2018Mike Clevinger had to be looking forward to pitching against the Los Angeles Angels. As a competitor, whenever you face a team that traded you, there’s likely a little extra skip in your step when you have a chance to show that team they made a mistake.
Well Mike Clevinger…statement made.
Clevinger strikes out Mike Trout
If you ever wanted that “mic-drop” moment as a starting pitcher, it doesn’t get much better than striking out Mike Trout…on three pitches…with a swing-and-miss to call it a day.
Mike Clevinger fans Mike Trout on three straight fastballs.
Good afternoon.
Good evening.
Good night. pic.twitter.com/7O56VkOTXB
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) April 3, 2018
Clevinger’s first pitch, a 93.7 four-seamer, ended up middle of the plate and inside. It looked like Yan Gomes was lined up for a fastball on the lower half of the plate, but Clevinger either missed his spot, or Gomes was trying to fool Trout. Clevinger didn’t swing, the pitch clearly fooled him, and it nicked the inside corner.
Clevinger’s second pitch, a 94.1 MPH four-seamer, almost hit Gomes’ glove on the outside of the plate. It was a touch outside, but not far enough to be a bad call. Gomes did a bit of framing, and Trout was in the hole 0-2.
Clevinger’s third pitch…
…a 94.3 MPH four-seamer, was a case in point for changing the eye-level. Gomes lined-up low, but you can tell from his athletic stance that he was likely looking for something high, and likely out of the zone, to stay safe. He climbed the ladder perfectly, and while Trout got a good swing on the pitch, he couldn’t get the bat up high enough. But it was close…
If Clevinger misses the edge, that ball is heading outta Anaheim. It was a perfect pitch, and a beautiful pitch sequence.
The Edwin Encarnacion inside-the-park home run
I’m not sure there will ever be a heading in any piece that I write that is more of a head-scratcher than this one. You know the play had to be weird, and it was all of that and more.
Encarnacion looped a 94 MPH two-seamer to left field, with a 91.9 exit velocity. Nothing about it looked like a home run, aside from the fact that it was in the short corner. Edwin spent much of his time down the first base line, visualizing, in a light job, until this happened…
The best part about this is that nobody really knew what was going on, least of all Justin Upton. It looked foul from the naked eye. Upton reacted like it was foul. But about three-quarters of the way down the line, Encarnacion took off and ended up walking over the plate for a fairly easy inside-the-parker. These are the types of plays that make baseball fun.
Zimmer can fly
In many ways, Bradley Zimmer is an enigma. As far as baseball tools go, he has them all. He can hit prodigious home runs. He has elite speed and baserunning skills. He’s really athletic defensively. As a youngster, his biggest flaw is that he doesn’t quite know how to put all of those tools together yet. He doesn’t get on base enough to become an everyday baserunning factor. He has a lot of swing-kinks he’s working out offensively. He can still take weird routes in the outfield.
But boy can he disrupt a game.
Yander Alonso…he good
When you throw Yonder Alonso an 85 MPH slider that doesn’t break very much, you are going to pay. I’ve read plenty about Alonso’s offensive changes over the course of the past two years, but watching it over the first week has been a lot of fun.
His swing is beautiful. Barrel much?
Yeah, don’t throw it to Naquin there
Naquin hit a two-run home run in the fourth.
That’s grooved for anyone, especially Naquin. I wish I could overlay this.
The results?
Now if we could just get everyone to throw to Naquin…right…there.
YOU JUST MADE the (FUN) List!
- The rotation–The continuing development of Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger is so fun. They seem dissimilar, yet have some overlapping things to work on…but for completely different reasons. I love baseball.
- Edwin Encarnacion–April and May are usually his worst months. This year? He’s hitting over .300, with three homers. I don’t expect it to last, but who knows. In the “way-too-early,” it’s still pretty fun.
It’s a short list, what can I say.
