The Arizona Diamondbacks are off to a surprisingly hot start this season, and the excellent pitching from Zac Gallen is a huge reason why.
The right-hander recorded double-digit strikeouts for a second consecutive start, striking out 12 in 6.1 innings against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday. But one pitch in particular stood out.
The Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino had no problem admitting as much.
During the sixth inning, Gallen threw a 1-1 pitch to Pasquantino that must have been a mistake. The pitch — an 83.5 mph cut-changeup — seemingly had a mind of its own and evaded both Pasquantino’s bat and Jose Herrera’s glove on its way to umpire Edwin Jimenez’s mask.
Zac Gallen's accidental Cut Change (7" of cut) fooled everyone…including Zac. pic.twitter.com/i3kkmZ1cOL
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 27, 2023
You could see that Gallen was even surprised about what that pitch did as it was an obvious outlier in terms of movement for every other changeup he’s thrown.
Look at how much different the movement was on this changeup vs. the other 1,298 Zac Gallen has thrown in the big leagues https://t.co/KVMnfeiBDx pic.twitter.com/oxhnyfhK8D
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 27, 2023
Pasquantino ended up striking out in the at-bat, but after the game, he couldn’t stop thinking about that pitch. He called it the craziest pitch he had ever seen.
This was quite possibly the craziest pitch I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been more confused in my life. Was it a cutter? Was it a change up? Somehow it was both
— Vinnie Pasquantino (@VPasquantino) April 27, 2023
If a big-league hitter was confused with that pitch, just imagine how fans felt. It was mesmerizing.
This was how Twitter reacted
How does this not have like 10000 RT yet? Most absurd pitch I've ever seen. https://t.co/1FsdlTCIon
— Brandon (@brandini37) April 27, 2023
This is terrifying. https://t.co/fTgV0CxFGC
— D.J. Short (@djshort) April 27, 2023
His reaction is literally this https://t.co/z2cyBQgQx9 pic.twitter.com/NoF1gcIcUh
— Jonah (@jonahrosen10) April 27, 2023
This dropped over a foot less than Zac's other changeups yesterday and had a difference in horizontal movement of over TWENTY-ONE inches! Crazy! https://t.co/KVMnfeiBDx
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 27, 2023
It is never a fun feeling to get squared up by an 80+mph pitch to the mask. https://t.co/9xd1EGK87p
— Travis Turner (@travturner22) April 27, 2023
This is funnier if you imagine the umpire's mask is just falling off his face out of sheer astonishment at the pitch, like a scandalized 18th-century dandy having his monocle fall off https://t.co/vT7h1wUX7U
— ℳatt (@matttomic) April 27, 2023
the way he glanced down at his hand like “wait did i do that?” is KILLING me https://t.co/QbF3oICuGC
— Ollie 🌻🌻 (@quadsunflower) April 27, 2023
Witch craft https://t.co/aQtzVDy2ed
— Collector (@Th3_Hobby) April 27, 2023
This pitch is something else https://t.co/CFF2UqZxi5
— Greg Hillis (@gregorykhillis) April 27, 2023
Now, if Gallen can figure out how to throw that pitch again, he might have himself a 20-strikeout game in his future.
