One of the more underrated situations in baseball comes when a team puts in a position player to pitch. The game is almost always lopsided, and the losing team is just trying to preserve its bullpen.
But, oh man, these position-player-pitching outings can come through with entertainment value.
That was on display during Sunday’s game between the Yankees and Red Sox, which already had a delay because some guy broke into Fenway.
With Boston up big, the Yankees brought in catcher Erik Kratz to give it a go as a pitcher, and he actually showed off a pretty decent knuckleball. He was also kind enough to give J.D. Martinez a heads up when one of those pitches got away.
Very nice of Erik Kratz to give JD a heads up. pic.twitter.com/qlrcWe2pra
— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 20, 2020
Yes, that was Kratz audibly shouting “look out!” as a knuckleball went behind Martinez. He probably should have stuck with the knuckleball, though, because Martinez took Kratz deep on an 80 mph fastball later in the at-bat.
J.D. Martinez – Boston Red Sox (6) pic.twitter.com/RpvesHKVhP
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) September 20, 2020
After all, this knuckleball wasn’t half bad!
Down 10-1 in the 8th, the Yankees brought catcher Erik Kratz in to pitch. And he broke out the knuckler. 😂 pic.twitter.com/hwlIDO0AHy
— MLB (@MLB) September 20, 2020
He gave up just that one home run in the single inning of work, and that inning made for the best pitch chart we’ll see all season.
Erik Kratz brought the baseball firing shotgun today pic.twitter.com/6tIu7IGuYT
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) September 20, 2020
