This easily could be the most amazin’ at-bat of the entire season.
Yep, in a spring training game.
With his New York Mets teammates cheering, dancing, and going crazy in the dugout, Luis Guillorme stood at the plate for more than 10 minutes against rocket-armed St. Louis reliever Jordan Hicks, eventually drawing a 22-pitch walk Sunday.
“It’s pretty cool,” Guillorme said.
Guillorme took a called strike on the first pitch, then swung and missed at the second. Quickly down 0-2, the backup infielder wound up hitting 16 foul balls -- nine in a row with a full count.
Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, and the rest of the Mets got more and more animated with every curve, changeup and fastball, including a half-dozen at 100 mph. Finally, Guillorme took a slider down and in for ball four and trotted to first base as the shouts and hollers erupted.
“It was definitely a good battle,” Hicks said.
Since Major League Baseball officially began keeping track in 1988, the longest at-bat in a regular-season game was a 21-pitch duel between San Francisco’s Brandon Belt and Angels rookie Jaime Barria that finished with a flyout.
What timing, too.
Hicks had just entered in the bottom of the fifth inning and Guillorme was the very first major league batter the right-hander had faced since June 2019. Hicks underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after that and opted out of the 2020 season because of coronavirus concerns, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in high school.
“It was probably the last thing I thought was going to happen, to be honest, because it’s never happened before,” Hicks told St. Louis media. “I don’t even think I’ve had a 13 pitch at-bat in my career.”
Hicks was scheduled to pitch one inning. But after the long matchup, he was pulled. Cardinals manager Mike Shildt thanked the umpiring crew for not enforcing the rule that relievers must face at least three batters unless they’re injured.
“Common sense prevailed,” Shildt said.
Hicks said he felt fine, other than being a little tired in his legs, after the remarkable return to the mound.
Guillorme also felt good, especially after he wound up scoring the tiebreaking run on a bases-loaded walk to Francisco Lindor in the Mets’ 7-5 win at Port St. Lucie, Florida.
“I’m just happy I ended up with the walk because if I would’ve gotten out that would’ve been not fun for me. All that work for nothing,” he told New York media.
STRAS NOT STRESSED
Washington star Stephen Strasburg left his second spring training start in the third inning because of a problem with his left calf that he called “nothing major.”
The 2019 World Series MVP, whose 2020 season was cut to just five innings because he needed carpal tunnel surgery on his right wrist, said his calf “grabbed” as he stood on that leg at the end of his pitching motion.
“Just kind of more of a precautionary thing and just kind of take it day-to-day and see how it feels tomorrow,” said Strasburg, who allowed one hit, struck out four, and walked one in 2 1/3 scoreless innings against Houston.
“Luckily, I feel like I’m a fast healer,” he said, “so I don’t think it would be something that could be a prolonged absence.”
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