Brock Holt throws the slowest called strike in MLB history, a breakdown
What Happened
Texas Rangers infielder Brock Holt, known for his facial hair and Stephenville, Texas roots, takes the mound in a rather unusual situation. The catcher accidentally calls for a fastball, but Holt insists on throwing his signature slow curveball instead. As Holt winds up, the pitch is clocked at an astounding 31 miles per hour - the slowest called strike in Major League Baseball history since records began in 2008. The opposing batters, as well as the announcers, are in awe of Holt's masterful slow-pitch display. Holt repeats the feat, throwing another 30 mph curveball that the batter simply watches sail into the catcher's mitt for a called strike. The players on the field are captivated, staring at the scoreboard in disbelief at the pitch speed. Holt's next batter is Rougned Odor, who tries to delicately reach for one of the looping curveballs, but the catcher simply pulls it back into the strike zone for another called strike. The umpire has seen enough of the novelty, indicating he's ready to move the game along. Odor ends up lining a 79 mph offering from Holt into left field, taking second base without a throw. The Rangers' Delino DeShields Jr. steps in next, and Holt continues to mix speeds, going from 30 mph back up to 68 mph on the fastball. DeShields takes the 3-1 pitch for a called strike, with the umpire ready to wrap up this odd pitching exhibition. On a 3-2 count, DeShields finally makes contact, lining out to the wall in left field to end the inning. As Holt walks off the mound, he jokingly shows the umpire his glove, asking if he needs to be checked for any "sticky stuff." The umpire declines, simply ready to move on from the novelty of Holt's record-setting slow curveballs. In the dugout, Holt's teammates gather around him, marveling at his unique pitching performance and the sheer velocity - or lack thereof - that allowed him to record those called strikes.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentbrock holt infielder for the texas
rangers number 16
from stephenville texas the cowboy
capital of the world facial hair on
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brockholt's on the mount he's not a
pitcher
but he's been mastering his craft of
throwing the slow ball
and the catcher accidentally calls for
the fastball he says absolutely not i
want to throw the slow ball
and here it comes it's 31 miles per hour
and it's a called strike
and that has never happened before this
is the slowest called strike in the
history of mlb since 2008 when they
started keeping track and these guys
love it
oh man first we see a big win now we see
a total freak show on the mound another
one
30 miles per hour again hit right back
to him
picks it up doesn't even need his
fielders out says umpire and these guys
are looking at the scoreboard like look
how slow it was
look look how slow it was 31 miles per
hour they're just smiling
now chapman's going to step into the box
and he goes twinkle toes trying to reach
for it catcher pulls it back into the
zone umpire says
that's a pretty slow pitch catch you're
not really going to be able to fool me
with that no sense in framing it
next pitch the 1-0 another looper
hammered into left field
the outfielder cuts it off but chapman's
heading for second base why not it's a
free hit you might as well
try to take second gets thrown out
empire says out another great call brock
holt says hell yeah
hell yeah pitching is easy look how
locked in chapman's eyes are here
just big doesn't blink staring
still staring and then moment of contact
kind of crazy kind of crazy eyes look at
this moment of right
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nice swing next up old teammate kemp and
he goes 79 and this guy goes what
what you got 79 in the bag too not just
31
back to 30s back to 33 now the 2-0 count
33 again kemp wanted it does not swing
he's over three on the day
3-0 pitch what's he gonna go slow ball
or fastball fastball
68 right on the corner these guys love
it they're eating it up brock's like
that's right baby
i got that too i can throw it for a
strike
3-1 pitch what's he going to go with
fast again and the um says yeah i'm
going to call that strike because i kind
of
just want to get this over with it was
novel and fun at first and now it's just
kind of boring watching these slow
pitches
3-2 in play 83 miles per hour this time
a nice catch at the wall
and brock holt does it completes
the inning proving once again
you can get outs in mlb he shows the
umpires glove his hat says do you need
to check me for the sticky stuff
i know i look nasty out there um says no
dude you're all good i'm over the jokes
i just want to go home
it's been a boring game brock says thank
you to the away crowd
brag says thank you to the away crowd i
never put it together that
that's the away crowd that's weird
anyway
then they're in the dugout and he's like
give me that let me check this out and
the player behind him is also checking
out like look what he did
look yeah look what he was doing out
there
it's funny now brock holt sees and he's
going to get a kick out of as well he
says look at how he's doing man that's
awesome
then he's going to look back and he's
going to get into the scouting report
he's going to take it seriously like
okay how can i improve on this better
in all seriousness i do think it's
pretty hard to throw a 31 mile per hour
pitch for a strike i mean to have
control over it but that's slow you got
to get a lot of arc and you got to get
it to ploop
down perfectly the way you want it to
pretty hard it's kind of like that
slowest bicycle race that i learned
about on lizzie mcguire where it's like
you know precision
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