Baseball Is All Fun And Games Until You Strike Out AND Get Hit In The Dick By The Pitch
I would like to submit this as primary evidence to anyone who doesn't think hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. Being a quarterback and reading defenses is hard for sure, scoring a goal in hockey is tough, but they don't hold a goddamn candle to recognizing a pitch like this and swinging quick enough to make contact. I don't know how anyone does it, never mind doing it well.
Keep in mind that Tony Wolters is a big league hitter. He's not a random fan pulled from the stands for winning some contest. He's not a Single A scrub getting a random spring at bat. Before coming over to Pittsburgh this season, he spent five seasons with the Rockies big league club. At the release of this pitch, the Pirates catcher thought he had a solid chance at making contact and putting the ball in play. His eyes recognized it as a strike in the zone and thought he had to swing to avoid being punched out. The baseball ended up hitting him in the cup. It's maybe the most degrading strikeout I've ever seen. If we're being honest, that pitch never had a chance of being in the zone at release. Not sure what Wolters was looking at there. Not a single clue. How do you continue to play in that game after that? Only reasonable response is to fake an injury and go to the hospital or something. Go play golf after that and have some self reflection. You strike out and take one to the crown jewels you need to do some serious soul searching. Maybe go into hiding.
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Side note, Darren O'Day has looked NASTY in his first few appearances with the Yankees in spring. I think he's going to be a more consistent version of Ottavino and I'm here for it. For any Yankees fan out there he should be appointment television anytime he has the ball in his hands. He's striking out duds and running cup checks at the same time for the love of god.
P.S. The Pirates might win 20 games this season. Someone save that franchise for the love of god.