UM grad Jake Cronenworth, MLB 2B by nature, makes his debut on the mound
With one out in the top of the 12th, down by 3 with the bases loaded, and apparently out of true relievers, the Padres decided to move Jake from 2B to the mound. They brought their left fielder in to place second, and put a starting pitcher (who threw a no-hitter the Friday before) in left field. The first batter he faced hit a grounder to the first baseman who was playing deep and Jake was late covering. Base hit, run scores. Next batter hits a sac line drive to the pitcher/left fielder to score another run. Jake then strikes out former AL MVP Mookie Betts swinging to end the inning. Full line is 2/3 of an inning, one hit, 1 K, and no runs (other than the 2 of the inherited runners). Looked like he was throwing just fastballs, hitting between 86 - 89 on the gun.
Also noticed in stadium that they played the Victors after Jake got a base hit, which is very cool.
Very cool. Thanks for posting.
I believe the MLB changed the rule in 2020 to allow position players to be brought in to pitch at any point in a game, although of course, it is highly likely that no team will ever do that except when they run out of actual pitchers in a situation, as per tradition. Still, it's kind of fun to watch teams do this - Don Kelly for the Tigers in more recent times, and I know that players like Wade Boggs, Mark Grace, and even Ichiro Suzuki found themselves on the mound at least once in their career.
DKB! I thought Coach Inge might have pitched for the Tigers at one point. Turns out that was the only position he never played. I just looked up his stats the other day. Interestingly, the position which he only had 1 game at was SS.
April 17th, 2021 at 12:48 PM ^
It was actually the opposite, position players have always been able to pitch whenever. The new rule initially planned for 2020 banned position players from pitching at any point in the game, only allowing it in blowouts (>6 run difference) and extra innings unless the player had earned "Two-Way Player" status from accruing both 20 career innings pitched and 20 starts as a position player/designated hitter. However because of the pandemic/shortened season the league reversed the rule and permitted position players to pitch at any time again, and that is still the case this season as well.
haha. This is wild. Thanks for sharing. Baseball is such a funny game.
During his career at Michigan, Cronenworth started every single game Michigan played--69 games at second base, 62 games at third base, 34 games at first base, 8 games in left field, 6 games as pitcher, and 1 game at DH.
Cronenworth had a total of 47 relief appearances as a pitcher--every one of those 47 he moved from a position in the field to the mound. By the end of his Junior season, Cronenworth was both the starting second baseman and the closer. So he wasn't just some random position player the Padres used at pitcher; this is actually one of the positions he can play.
Thanks for the background.
It's amazing how talented some of these guys are.
86 - 89? My kid throws 90. I think his college coach would give him the day off to fill in in an MLB game. But in all seriousness, what a thrill to strike out Mookie Betts. Congrats to Jake.
Wendy!
your kid is up to 90?!? What year is he now? Is he still in DIII? what a cool accomplishment.
Yes! He's a junior, (redshirted because of Covid, so he now has an extra year of availability) still at Denison (D3). He's been training for the past year to get his velocity up. Put on 35 pounds. As a freshmen, his fastball was right around 81. The goal was 90, and he's hitting that right now. After he's done playing, he wants to get into training or coaching.
April 17th, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
He also is a legitimate everyday player already. Guy can really play.
April 17th, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
I have Jake on my fantasy team, but I'm not sure his pitching stats counted last night.
This was a fantastic game, btw.
I've watched "Fantasia" several times...
Before he was traded to the Padres, Tampa was trying him out as a pitching-hitting player a la Ohtani. He pitched in seven games, six as an Opener, for the Triple-A Durham Bulls. He wound up pitching 7 1/3 innings during which he allowed two unearned runs, four hits, and - uggh - eight walks. BUT, he did strike out nine. When the Padres acquired him, there was still some discussion about using him as a two-way player, but he proved too valuable as a hitter to continue Tampa’s experiment. My recollection is he was reaching mid-to-high 90s with Durham, but that involved building up to that speed. Last night, I’m sure he was under orders to not overdo things; hence, only reaching the upper 80s.
Great post and even better analysis by others!! Kudos to all!