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- Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons pitched in a game for the first time on Thursday.
- The first two pitches of his not-so-great appearance were polar opposites.
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There are very few things in baseball that bring the same amount of joy as a position player pitching. One of them is when a position player pitching records a nasty strike at a very low speed like what happened on Thursday.
Typically, MLB franchises will only call on a position player to take the mound when they are up big or losing by a lot in an effort to save their bullpen arms. For the Chicago Cubs, it was the latter.
Down by 10 runs in the eighth inning, the team called for Andrelton Simmons — a shortstop who had never pitched in a live MLB game ever before. It did not go well for him, but he will forever have one nasty strike to his name.
for the very first time, welcome to
(•_•)
<) )╯POSITION
/ \\(•_•)
( (> PLAYER
/ \(•_•)
<) )> PITCHING
/ \andrelton simmons!!! pic.twitter.com/2cCUkneXgB
— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 26, 2022
During his at-bat against Reds catcher Kyle Farmer, he lobbed in an off-speed pitch that was so incredibly slow, Farmer was fooled. He could not help but smile after swinging and missing.
Andrelton Simmons, Sick 45mph…Pitch. 🤒 pic.twitter.com/szn6SDb1Jg
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 26, 2022
On the very next pitch, Simmons tried to throw a heater. It was not good. The pitch got away from him and he nearly took Farmer’s head off with a laser beam that ended up sailing directly toward his face. Both Simmons and Farmer couldn’t help but laugh at the clearly unintentional ball that left Cincinnati fans booing anyway.
Andrelton Simmons blows 45 MPH passed Kyle Farmer and then nearly takes his head off with 78 MPH pic.twitter.com/eXKB1utMBp
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 26, 2022
The two pitches were polar opposites.
Andrelton Simmons, 45mph Simba Special and 78mph Elevated Fastball, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/0qljyJUOrB
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 26, 2022
In the end, Simmons gave up five runs in his one inning of relief and Chicago lost 20-5.