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The Brock Holt Show and 3… or 4 Fun Things From Wednesday

Brock Holt pitches and breaks the space-time continuum.

TC Zencka
Best MLB Moments 9/24/2020

I’m so excited to show you everything that Brock Holt did in tonight’s Nats/Phillies game, let’s dive right into it.

 

The Brock Holt Show

 

Position players pitching is nothing new, but few do it with the style of Brock Holt. The man knows how to entertain. There are so many fun things happening here that I’m not even going to show you Mickey Moniak laughing during an at-bat or Yan Gomes barehanding a warm-up pitch. On the latter, I’ll just say this: when your catcher is barehanding pitches, you’re not getting enough power from your legs. Push off, Brock.

In-game wasn’t a whole lot better. Look at this glorious pitch:

There’s a lot going on here. First of all, I’d love to know the vertical movement on this pitch, because I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a pitch thrown so high that it went out of camera view. Kudos, Brock.

But also: that was ball four! And everybody just ignored it! Holt threw a pitch so slow… it didn’t count? The umpire never saw it? He stopped time?! I don’t know! I’ve never seen that before! On the next pitch, with a 4-2 count (!!), Moniak lined a single to right. I guess 4-2 remains a hitter’s count.

Oh heck, let’s see Holt’s first pitch in slo-mo, just for fun.

https://gfycat.com/accomplishedhealthyfoxterrier

It may seem like Holt was lobbing up softballs, but it was all part of the mind game between batter and pitcher. Or batter and fielder. Or batter and fielder-pitcher. Whatever. Point is: Holt’s strength as a pitcher is definitely his ability to change speeds.

But pitch classification is always complicated. Holt argued with the Phillies dugout about the classification of some of his pitches. They said curveball—probably because of the vertical drop—but Holt insisted: that was his heater.

https://gfycat.com/tepidfortunateemperorshrimp

In the bottom of the ninth, Holt came up to bat… as the pitcher? With the Brewers this season, he was hitting like a pitcher. They cut him. On Wednesday, when hitting as the pitcher, he hit a rocket to the second baseman. Spin my head around some more why don’t you, Brock.

My dude may not be much of a pitcher, but he’s a heckuva entertainer.

 

Bryce Harper’s Revenge

 

Last season, the Washington Nationals had the privilege of eliminating Bryce Harper and the Phillies from postseason contention during a five-game sweep over four days in the last week of the season. The Nats actually knocked the Phillies out in the first game of a doubleheader, then clinched their own spot in the postseason in the nightcap. Ouch. It hurt.

The miracle Nats almost made a habit of it. They did, at the very least, knock the Phillies out of playoff positioning. The Nats swept yet another doubleheader from the Phillies to take the first three games of a four-game set.

But on Wednesday, the fightin’ Phils got themselves back on track. Guess who set the tone.

Harper hit a pair of home runs and scored four time in the 12-3 win. He was also intentionally walked three times. What’s more, he got to re-pay a debt from last year: Today’s win officially eliminated his former club from playoff contention.

This rivalry has legs. Stay tuned.

 

The 2020 AL East Champion Tampa Bay Rays

 

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first AL East title since 2010 on Wednesday. How do they do it? Don’t ask me. But Andrew Simon of MLB.com has found a clue.

It’s a night a long time coming for the Rays. They built the best farm system in baseball, revolutionized the sport with the opener, saved Tyler Glasnow, and succeeded in creating a talent engine to keep their puny little club competitive year-in and year-out. All this while having one of the lowest payrolls in baseball and continually seeing their front office raided by rival organizations. If anyone deserved a night to celebrate, it’s the Rays.

But that’s no excuse to leave a messy clubhouse, you guys.

If a team is a family, then it has to have a dad. For the Rays, that’s Daddy Morton.

 

A Web Gem to Spark Your Existential Crisis

 

Rarely does a web gem truly marvel anymore. We’ve seen it all, right? Stop me if you’ve seen this Story before.

I don’t even understand. How can he jump in the air and still put some much mustard behind that throw? Like, I’m a human. My body has all the same pieces as his, as far as I know. But what Trevor Story does in that highlight resembles nothing I’ve ever done in my life. So, it’s like, him or me, man. We can’t both be humans.

 

A Miggy Comeback in Detroit

 

Throwback Thursday came a day early this week in Detroit. Miguel Cabrera turned up the heat.

Big day for the big fella. Here’s a trip: Miggy owns a triple slash of .265/.342/.399… over the last four years. Still, good to see a big night for the future Hall of Famer.

Alright, baseball fans. I’m gonna watch these Brock Holt highlights one more time and hit the hay. Let’s hope for more of the same on Thursday.

TC Zencka

TC Zencka contributes regularly to Pitcher List, and MLB Trade Rumors. Come say hi on Twitter.

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