It’s officially time to say goodbye to one of the quirkiest windups in Major League Baseball.
Houston Astros pitcher Luis Garcia became a viral sensation thanks to a windup that made it look like he was rocking a baby before delivering a pitch, although it raised questions about whether it was a balk or not.
But with a crackdown on balk rules coming in 2023, it was time for him to retire the motion. And we got to see what it looked like earlier this week in spring training. Here’s a side-by-side from Pitching Ninja that shows you how his old motion is long gone (boo!):
Well, this umpire explanation should be interesting.
If you needed another reason to see why Major League Baseball will test robot umpires by 2024, what happened to Astros pitcher Luis Garcia against the Athletics (+1.5) on Friday night was an excellent example.
At the top of the third inning, with Houston already down a run, Garcia was caught in a bases-loaded, two-out jam with Oakland’s Chad Pinder at the plate. After Garcia delivered what he thought was a second-strike pitch, an umpire overruled the initial call with … a balk?
With the bases loaded, the quirky balk call on Garcia meant the Athletics automatically scored another run to take a 2-0 lead. Because Garcia’s typical wind-up is quite long (but usually consistent!) anyway, he was understandably furious.
The pitcher argued with several members of the umpire crew, and even manager Dusty Baker came in to dispute the ruling:
The umpires call a bases loaded balk on Luis Garcia's unique motion and he doesn't agree with it pic.twitter.com/chfGuWJMh1
I mean, I get it. You’re trying to protect the runners. But this feels specious. Like a subjective call that an umpire is itching to make given the tense situation, instead of it being correct. Though, perhaps given Garcia’s usual wind-up, he might have been due for a balk.
And they both did it against the SAME. EXACT. BATTERS!
Among the rarer individual feats in baseball is throwing an immaculate inning — where a pitcher strikes out all three batters they face on the minimum of nine pitches.
On Wednesday against the Rangers (+1.5), two Astros pitchers, Luis Garcia and Phil Maton, managed to do it in the same game against the same exact batters.
Let’s take it to the top of the second inning, with Houston leading 6-1 and the starter, Garcia, slated to face the Rangers’ Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran, and Brad Miller.
Precisely nine pitches later, all three batters were out, and Garcia had the 106th immaculate inning in MLB history:
Fast forward to the top of the seventh. Relief pitcher Phil Maton is now on the mound with Houston protecting a 7-2 lead, while Lowe, Duran, and Miller were all up to bat again.
Nine pitches later, Maton had the 107th immaculate inning in MLB history, again, off the same batters. (Houston would go on to win, 9-2.)
For context, Garcia and Maton’s two separate immaculate innings in the same game is the first time in MLB history that that has happened on the same calendar date, let alone the same game:
This is the first time on record there have been two immaculate innings on a single calendar date, let alone in the same game OR by the same team
In 2022, Maton and Garcia threw just the second and third immaculate innings of the season, following the Yankees’ Nestor Cortes, who did it against the Orioles in April:
Per the MLB record books, some of the bigger names to ever throw an immaculate inning include Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martínez.
Quite obviously, Houston’s Garcia and Maton have joined some illustrious company. But in the near-140-plus years that baseball has kept records, they still stand alone as the only two teammates to ever do it in one game on the same day.
Have yourself a mutual day of pitching excellence, fellas.
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Chances are you’re old. I’m old, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I’m cool with it. I get it.
But sometimes I see something that does, indeed, make me feel old and I wonder where the heck all of the time has gone.
That happened on Monday night when I saw that Washington Nationals second baseman Luis García hit a home run. On the surface, there’s nothing crazy about that – Majore League Baseball players hit home runs all the time.
But then I noticed he’s the youngest player in MLB and that he’s the first player born in the year 2000 (5/16/2000) or later to hit a home run and yeah, I felt old.
Check this out:
Hi! Ready to feel old? 👴
Luis García is the first player born in 2000 or later to hit a home run.
And listen, if you were born in 2000 or later and don’t get why this home run would make some of us feel old then just enjoy your youth and leave us old people alone!
