It’s almost difficult to put into words just how good Major Leaguers are at baseball. Every player on a big league roster is a legend at their former schools and hometowns. They’re truly the best baseball players in the world. It’s preposterous that human beings are even capable of making contact against MLB pitching, and that’s only possible because MLB batters are out-of-this-world great at baseball.
I really want you to remember that before you see what happened to the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday against the Yankees.
With Josh Donaldson at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs, Tigers pitcher Tyler Alexander seemingly escaped the first-inning jam by forcing Donaldson to pop up a solid 20 feet shy of the mound. The Yankees, though, scored two runs on that pop fly.
The Tigers drop a Josh Donaldson popup and gift the Yankees two runs in the first! pic.twitter.com/Gp8DbzBEX1
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 19, 2022
A combination of a miscommunication with catcher Tucker Barnhart and a total lack of concentration on Alexander’s part had the ball bouncing out of Alexander’s glove and falling to the ground as the Yankees scored a pair with runners going on the pitch (two outs, full count).
Just yikes.
Again, MLB players are fantastic. But they’re not perfect, and mistakes don’t get much more embarrassing than that.
It was so disastrous for Alexander that A.J. Hinch went to the bullpen between innings. Alexander had thrown 42 pitches in that one inning, but that error had to be the reason for the early pull. You can’t lose your focus like that.
MLB fans had plenty to say about the blunder too.