It’s become increasingly common in recent years for teams to trot out position players to get the final few outs on the mound in blowout games. The overwhelming majority of these appearances follow a similar script: The position player—usually a guy who primarily finds himself at the end of the bench—lobs pitches toward the plate at speeds so slow that it’s a marvel they travel the full 60'6". Eventually, the batters hit enough of those meatballs directly to defenders to record three outs and bring a merciful end to the game.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford’s pitching debut on Sunday afternoon did not follow that script.
With the Giants up 13–3 headed into the final inning, manager Gabe Kapler saw the opportunity to let Crawford live out a previously unfulfilled big league dream. The veteran had been given the day off, but Kapler approached him in the batting cage as the ninth inning neared and asked if he wanted to pitch. Crawford accepted.
Crawford took his mop-up duty very seriously, utilizing an impressive arsenal of off-speed pitches. He touched 90 mph with his fastball and also broke out five curveballs, and a slider. He looked like a real pitcher out there.
Crawford’s scoreless outing is even more impressive when you consider how poorly it started. He struggled with his command early on, allowing a four-pitch walk to leadoff batter Mike Tauchman, and then fell behind 3–1 on Nico Hoerner, who later singled. But Crawford was able to pitch out of the jam expertly, retiring the next three hitters in order.
As you might have guessed from how natural Crawford looked on the mound, he does have a decent amount of experience as a pitcher. Although all 1,599 of his major league appearances before Sunday had come as a shortstop or pinch hitter, he did pitch in high school and a little bit in college at UCLA.
Crawford’s wife, Jalynne, tweeted that he “has been begging to pitch,” so it’s no surprise that he decided to give it his all.
“I told Kap when he asked me, well, you know I’m going to actually pitch. I’m not going to lob it. That’s not fun. The fun part is actually pitching,” Crawford said after the game. “So he knew going in. … I’ve been told my pitches actually looked pretty good on their charts.”
