Dodgers: Watch Former LA Catcher Make History for the Wrong Reasons
It seems like this season, position players are pitching more than ever. That, or that the baseball internet is better at covering the oddity that's become less odd this season.
This week, Dodgers Hanser Alberto pitched the ninth inning of the Dodgers Thursday blowout win over Arizona, but he wasn't the only infielder who took the mound.
Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons pitched the bottom of the eighth inning with the Cubs down 15-5. Simmons, who's a four-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop, has been known to have an absolute cannon. Apparently, it doesn't transfer to the mound all that well for the 32-year-old.
In an at-bat against former Dodgers farmhand Kyle Farmer, Simmons threw a pitch that was 44.9 miles per hour. Farmer offered at it, but failed to make contact. According to Codify Baseball, Farmer's attempt was a swing and miss on the slowest pitch in major league history.
Pitching Ninja got in on the action and playfully complimented Simmons' pitch to Farmer.
Farmer was the Dodgers eighth-round pick in the 2013 draft. He debuted in 2017, but compiled just 20 plate appearances and a .650 OPS. The next season, Farmer got some starts in the first couple of months of the season at third base. He finished the year with a .235/.312/.324 slash line.
In December of 2018, Farmer was sent to the Reds, along with Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, and Yasiel Puig, in exchange for Jeter Downs, Homer Bailey, and Josiah Gray.
The former catcher is now the Reds everyday shortstop, but is struggling at the plate (91 OPS+), even when the pitch is historically slow.
