Willians Astudillo gets batters out throwing 46 mph pitches, a breakdown
What Happened
Jomboy breaks down Willians Astudillo's relief appearance for the Twins in April 2021, contrasting it with his 2018 mound debut. Back in 2018, La Tortuga tried to throw hard, sat around 84-86 mph, and got tagged for multiple runs including two homers. In 2021 he flipped the script entirely, lobbing pitches as slow as 46 mph mixed with a 72 mph 'fastball.' The change-of-pace messed up hitters so badly he retired the side in order, getting batters out on what Jomboy calls pure lollipop action.
Why This Matters
Position players pitching became normal as blowouts piled up, and MLB later capped when teams can use them. Astudillo's outing is the perfect example of why velocity isn't the point for a guy like him. Major league hitters time fastballs for a living, so a 46 mph eephus with big arc and late tail throws off everything they're built to attack. Swinging hard at a pitch that floats in is genuinely tough, and the embarrassment factor makes it worse. Astudillo, a catcher and utility man known for never striking out himself, leaned into the bit and got a clean 1-2-3 inning on seven pitches. It's a reminder that pitching is about disruption and deception, not just heat, and that Minnesota's roster crunch in 2021 produced one of the more fun mound cameos of the year.
With 2.5M views, this sits at #77 of 1,583 Jomboy breakdowns, landing in the top 4.9% of the entire catalog.
Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Willians Astudillo. Teams: Twins.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentin 2018 position player willian ostadio
la tortuga got called in to pitch he
threw
86 miles per hour but he got absolutely
shell look at
84 miles per hour 85 miles per hour he's
throwing hard out there but he gave up
like six runs
two home runs did not have a good time
this was in 2018.
you can see him thinking man this wasn't
worth it if i ever get on the bump again
i'm just gonna throw lollipops so and
here he is on the mound again in the
year 2021 looking
even fresher and that's what he does he
just goes
51 Mike Trout's like huh hey who the
hell is this guy
they bring in a position player oh okay
59 right into jd's glove one out oh man
46 this batter is thinking holy if
i don't get a hit here that's going to
be embarrassing this is scarier than
100.
look at that lollipop action just
beautiful drop beautiful tail curved due
to gravity
that one that one's funny and then he
drops a 72.
wow now this batter's really messed up
look at the difference here
change of pace change of break that's a
killer combo
so now this batter's got two strikes on
him and the dude's throwing 46 miles per
hour comes back at him
doesn't even get registered it's so slow
and he's out
and he's out easy peasy man why was i
throwing so hard a couple years ago
comes in again 46 and he's out one two
three
seven pitches proving that you and i and
everyone else can get
major league hitters out except that guy
he definitely can't
oh this is so mean