“It’s not supposed to move like that.”įor weeks, Red Sox bloggers posted GIFs of the pitch just to cheer themselves up.
“That last pitch he threw at me, man-ninety-nine miles per hour,” Swisher said afterward. Fastballs typically fly on a relatively straight trajectory, compared with off-speed stuff. It’s a two-seam fastball that heads toward the middle of the plate, then dips abruptly and sharply toward the dirt. But it is the third pitch that will inspire awe for years to come. fastballs that clip the outside of the plate: strike one and strike two. Then the ball snaps off his fingers and his right arm whips toward first base his tongue sticks out the whole time.īard starts Swisher off with two ninety-eight-m.p.h. When he begins his motion, his right arm curls so far behind him that, from the batter’s point of view, it seems to touch second base before unfurling toward third as his legs drive his body toward home. Instead, his power comes from his looseness, from the mobility of his hips and his shoulders. Not from his arms or his chest: despite his height, he is not imposing. When he stands very still, as he does between pitches, it’s difficult to see where the strength to throw a ball so hard comes from.