There are many things in life that can be defined as simple pleasures: the smell of fresh cut grass, for instance, or eating something that warms you up on a cold winter’s day. The sports example of this is when a baseball team is getting their teeth kicked in and they decide to put a position player on the mound, and fortunately for those of us who get joy out of this, the Minnesota Twins did exactly this on Friday night.
Minnesota lost to the Los Angeles Angels, 10-3, and instead of burning their fifth pitcher of the night during the bottom of the eighth inning, the team turned to utility man Willians Astudillo, who has become something of a cult hero for his portly appearance. The funniest thing is that Astudillo was the Twins’ best pitcher on the evening, as he did not allow a baserunner and got out of the inning without any sort of damage, in part because the Angels couldn’t get good contact on his 46 mile per hour heat.
Here is all 7 pitches in Willians Astudillo's appearance pic.twitter.com/yThVXGSyOI
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 17, 2021
It is extremely good that he dropped that eephus down the middle of the strike zone and there wasn’t even an effort to swing at it. It is also extremely good that him painting the edge with a 72 mph fastball probably looked like he was really letting loose. Do not think it is controversial at all to say he needs to pitch more. I mean, the results speak for themselves.
