New stars will rise, and longer home runs will be hit. He still adjusted and hit the most impressive home run of the early season. Maybe he started a millisecond too early. Trout might even admit he made a mistake with that swing, expecting more movement back over the plate. It came on a pitch that probably should have been approached with a much different swing, so it’s almost as if Trout was showing off.Įxcept he wasn’t, of course. This is a baseball player who is as talented as baseball players can be made, and he used a nearly perfect swing. This one will be mostly forgotten after a month, if not a week.īut it was an extraordinary home run, something that could go on Trout’s cover letter if he needed to send his résumé out and look for a job. He took this ball and hooked it, and he did it with such a perfect swing, with such strength and precision, that it left the park in less than four seconds, even though he was reaching ever so slightly. Not only did he pull it and keep it fair, he hit it over 110 mph, which is roughly as hard as baseballs can be hit, give or take a few miles. A strong enough hitter could certainly get it over the center-field wall. It’s a pitch that could get punished with an opposite-field extra-base hit with the right approach. It had movement toward the plate, and it didn’t get enough of the edge. It’s not something we should get used to. Trout’s home run wasn’t something we’re used to, though. If that pitch was going to turn into a home run, it was going to be pulled in the same way that Correa actually did it. The ball did what you would expect it to do if the swing was right. It’s still impressive enough to ruin my thesis, but there’s some logic to it. It was inside, Correa was expecting it, and he pulled it a few hundred feet. The Carlos Correa home run was more ridiculous because it was clearly off the plate. I’m not going to suggest that David Phelps should be thrown in jail for throwing a fastball that bad, but he at least deserves to be sued. That is not where you should throw a fastball to Bryce Harper. When you watch the long home run from Bryce Harper, it makes sense. Heck, the Angels might even win a couple of those games.īut allow me to explain what made me giggle and roll around on the floor as if the dentist forgot to shut off the tank. He’ll hit about 30 or 40 more of those this year. The homer came from Mike Trout in a forgettable Angels loss, and that’s what makes it too easy to overlook, especially on Opening Day. It made me laugh out loud and rewind the DVR five times. Specifically, the most amazing single moment from the most amazing player. The stories of 2017 will come quickly, and they’ll consume us.īefore we go down that particular water slide, though, I would like to share the most amazing player I watched on Opening Day. We’ll get wrapped up in the dizziness of the 162 game season. We’ll follow the progress of players like Masahiro Tanaka too closely, as if a month was ever enough time to evaluate a baseball player. A random team will contend, at least for a month, and we’ll spend time arguing about them. 350 hitter with power now.” There will be disappointments, surprising rookies, and surprising veterans. There will a random MVP candidate - “By the way, Yulieski Gurriel is a. Then a week will pass, a month, two months. It’s all about the individual reminders of how neat-o the sport is, not necessarily about which teams are winning and losing. That’s the point of Opening Day, I suppose. If you’re going to gorge, do it on a day like that. Clayton Kershaw yawning and throwing seven innings of two-hit ball.Carlos Correa mashing a 440-foot homer that sailed out of Minute Maid Park. Bryce Harper hitting yet another Opening Day home run.Noah Syndergaard throwing 100-mph two-seamers and 93-mph sliders (he won).Manny Machado making Orioles fans say, “I think he might be the best defensive third baseman in team history” without irony.The best part of Opening Day isn’t just all the baseball it’s the expectation that you’re supposed to watch it. When fans tried to start the wave in the last game of the season, it caused mild indigestion, but I put my head down and gorged some more. There were first pitches and final pitches, wins and losses, dingers, and more dingers. On Monday morning, I woke up and waited for baseball.
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