With position players pitching becoming one of the most fun novelties in the sport, I figured I'd bring a new design to Anyone Can Pitch while keeping going my quest to document the best of the canon.
The first of these came very early in the season, with Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly, now on the IL, taking an inning of relief to round out an early game against the Padres. He did well enough, only allowing 1 hit over 3 batters, and finishing strong in the loss.
Elsewhere in the NL West, Giants rookie Luis Gonzalez, who has been a few useful addition to the outfield picture, has also made 3 appearances so far in relief. In 4.1 relief innings, he has a 6.23 ERA, 5 hits and 3 earned runs. With the amount of times Gonzalez has pitched by May, he might even make more appearances as we go, which is cool.
In a match with the Giants, longtime Padres power hitter Wil Myers made his first EVER career pitching appearance, which is a big deal. Say what you will about Myers and expectations, but he's still been reliable enough for the Padres over the years, and is the lone survivor of the 2015 contract-a-palooza that A.J. Preller tried. As a pitcher, though, Myers went 1 inning and allowed two home runs. So yes, I think he's better off in the outfield.
Rounding out our inadvertent trip around the NL West, former Orioles infielder Hanser Alberto, who is now a bench piece for the Dodgers, has gotten 2 appearances in relief, bringing his career total to 4. Alberto has had one crappy outing, giving up two hits an an earned run, and one good outing, giving up only one hit and no earned runs. Both have been against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Matter of fact, most of the NL West appearances here have been against other NL West teams. Weird.
I haven't even made a regular custom of Andrelton Simmons on the Cubs yet, and here I am making an Anyone Can Pitch custom of him. I have odd priorities. Polishing off a recent blowout against the Reds, Simmons made his first ever pitching appearance, and turned the game from a 15-5 loss...into a 20-5 loss, giving up 5 earned runs and ending the night with a 45.00 career ERA. Hell of a contact hitter, but...eeeeesh.
I don't think that Dee Strange Gordon's 2022 season is gonna be a career highlight for him, especially after his years in Miami, but Gordon made his former big league reliever father proud by making his first ever career start for the Nationals. In 1 inning against the Braves, Strange-Gordon gave up 3 balls, 3 earned runs including a home run and walked off with a 27.00 ERA. At least he can say he finally pitched in a game. And if you think that's a cool moment for the Gordon baseball family,
Yep, Tom's other kid pitched as well this year. Unlike his older brother, Nick Gordon actually had a decent go of things on the mound. In the only appearance by an AL player in this post, Gordon went for 4 batters to close out a game against the Astros, and only allowed 1 hit and no runs. A more triumphant moment for the younger Gordon brother, and a marker that means all 3 baseball Gordons have pitched at least an inning in the majors.
I'll hope to have some more of these as the season progresses, these are fun.
These are indeed fun! I believe both Pujols and Molina made appearances at the end of Cardinals when they were winning. I don't remember a position player taking the mound when their team was up. Maybe because they're gonna retire at the end of the year so they wanted to get it out of the way? It just seems like the final insult to the losing team.
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