There is no task more difficult in sports than hitting big-league pitching. Sure, there are arguments to be made for other sports, but at times, MLB pitchers have it seem miraculous that anyone is even able to make contact.
On Sunday, Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo offered his own case for that argument.
Facing Mets third baseman José Iglesias in the fourth inning with a 1-2 count, Castillo broke out a 96 mph sinker that basically had Iglesias swinging out of his shoes. Iglesias — who is having himself a great season — looked completely overmatched as he swung through the inside pitch and fell to the ground.
Hard for a pitcher to embarrass a hitter more than Luis Castillo did Jose Iglesias here pic.twitter.com/vb2gN2PdV9
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 12, 2024
Like, what is Iglesias even supposed to do there? The pitch looked like it was heading towards the heart of the strike zone before abruptly running inside — 20 inches of horizontal break will do that.
Even the best hitters are bound to get embarrassed from time to time. It just happened to be Iglesias’ turn on Sunday.
Fans were understandably stunned with that pitch. That’s a tough strikeout to bounce back from.
This was how Twitter/X reacted
TWISTERS (2024) https://t.co/hVvgc7WOir
— Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) August 12, 2024
The "OMG" line on the broadcast was just insult to injury lol. https://t.co/6WdxJ1QjIk
— Josh Gamez (@Just_JoshG) August 12, 2024
thank brash and castillo for this https://t.co/Kn99ydwPY0 pic.twitter.com/aP2zduvITi
— sarah (@saz_theman) August 12, 2024
I’ve been laughing at this for a couple minutes now https://t.co/ydgvRbXhEu
— Megan Corcoran (@megan_corcoran_) August 12, 2024
If this pitch only wins one end-of-season @PitchingNinja Award, the system is rigged. https://t.co/Ckv17s4XYj
— Jeff Zimmerman (@jeffwzimmerman) August 12, 2024
— Mike Lefko (@MikeLefko) August 12, 2024
It all comes together for Castillo when he’s hitting 96+
Gosh I love his stuff https://t.co/MjnFF627yc
— Tuna (@palousetuna) August 12, 2024
new statcast metric incoming 🪦 🪦 🪦 https://t.co/1MZjbqlyI2
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 12, 2024
To the shadow realm. https://t.co/oQe9MSTYAp
— Seth Poho (@sethpoho) August 12, 2024
