Tag: Matt Brash

Matt Brash got the Red Sox’s Yu Chang to swing at a slider so outside that he started laughing

Swings don’t get much worse.

It’s no secret what Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Matt Brash can do to opposing hitters. His slider and curveball are some of the more devastating pitches in baseball, and we saw that last week when he got Willi Castro to swing at a pitch between his legs.

But Brash’s humiliation of big-league hitters knows no bounds. And on Monday, it was Red Sox infielder Yu Chang’s turn to look foolish in the batter’s box.

Facing Brash in the seventh inning, Chang swung at a 90 mph slider that was so outside it hardly registered on the pitch-chart graphic. Chang was clearly looking fastball after already seeing a first-pitch slider, but Brash is not the pitcher you want to be caught guessing against.

After the brutal swing, Chang — a .156 hitter this season — collected himself in the box and started laughing. Honestly, there wasn’t much else he could do after a swing like that.

Brash — who also has a fastball around triple digits — continued with the slider against Chang and ultimately got him to ground out for the second out of the inning.

As great as that slider was, fans couldn’t believe that an MLB hitter swung at it.

Mariners pitcher Matt Brash humiliated Willi Castro by striking him out on a curveball between his legs

An actual magic trick.

No batter out there wants to fall behind in the count, but that is especially true when they’re facing a pitcher like the Mariners’ Matt Brash.

It almost never ends well for the hitter.

In just his second year in the big leagues, Brash has proved himself as an electric arm out of the Mariners bullpen. He’s striking out 16 batters per nine innings, and he boasts a filthy slider and knuckle curveball to go along with a fastball near triple digits. The pitch made a devastating impression on Jose Ramirez during Opening Day.

During the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game between the Mariners and Twins, it was Willi Castro’s turn to look silly against that knuckle curve.

With Brash ahead in the count at 1-2, the Mariners pitcher unleashed that knuckle curveball after three straight fastballs. Castro wasn’t ready at all for that kind of movement. He swung at the pitch even as the ball broke between his legs. The pitch was 88 mph with 42 inches of vertical break and 13 inches of horizontal run.

That’s just not fair, especially when you just saw a 99 mph fastball a pitch earlier.

No wonder MLB fans were in awe of that knuckle curveball. Between the legs should count as an extra strikeout.

Jose Ramirez fell down and went boom thanks to an absolutely filthy Matt Brash pitch

Oh nooooo! But what a pitch.

Jose Ramirez is really, really good at baseball.

But as we noted a full year ago, Seattle Mariners pitcher Matt Brash is all sorts of filthy on the mound.

And the result of Brash vs. Ramirez went to the pitcher in a big way on Opening Day.

As the Mariners were on their way to beating the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, Brash reared back on an 0-2 pitch to Ramirez and threw this twisting, dying-duck of a pitch that landed near the slugger’s back foot. Ramirez swung and missed … and fell down. Hard. It’s the equivalent of an NBA ankle-breaker.

Check this out:

Just brutal.

Mariners rookie Matt Brash might already be the filthiest pitcher in baseball

And the Padres traded him for nothing!

Mariners pitcher Matt Brash made his big-league debut on Tuesday despite never pitching beyond Double-A, and it was pretty easy to see why Seattle wanted that arm with the MLB squad right away.

He certainly knew how to make a first impression.

Brash came into Tuesday’s game against the White Sox with a 2.28 minor-league ERA and striking out 13 batters per nine innings. On top of that, the Padres traded him to Seattle as an afterthought for now-Giants minor leaguer Taylor Williams. Brash’s electric fastball and knuckle curveball turned heads during spring training, and he brought that energy into his MLB debut with a ridiculous first inning.

Brash struck out two of the three batters he faced (Tim Anderson managed to fly out on an 0-2 count) in the first inning, and he made Luis Robert and Jose Abreu look silly in the process. He might already be the filthiest pitcher in baseball.