Diamondbacks pitcher Slade Cecconi was on the mound for his MLB debut on Wednesday against the Giants. The 24-year-old quickly picked up the first strikeout of his career, though it certainly wasn’t how he envisioned it going down.
During the first inning of the game, Cecconi was dueling against San Francisco’s Lamonte Wade Jr. In a full count, Cecconi threw an inside fastball that appeared to clip Wade’s hands. The ball then took a painful and unfortunate deflection right into catcher Jose Herrera’s midsection.
After reviewing the play, umpires determined that the ball actually deflected off the tip of Wade's bat and that remarkably, Herrera had caught the ball, making it a strikeout for Cecconi.
Slade Cecconi will never forget his 1st career K. 😂 pic.twitter.com/uFB5pYABW9
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 3, 2023
Even the commentators were confused at first glance, needing to watch the replay in order to determine that it had in fact hit off Wade’s bat.
The ball appeared to get stuck in Herrera’s midsection, and he miraculously didn’t drop it as he leaned over in pain.
No matter how many strikeouts Cecconi has in his MLB career, he likely won’t have another quite like his first.
