While other pitchers break 98 mph regularly, Alfredo Simon drops a 54-mph eephus
In the 2016 season so far, there have been a lot of very, very fast pitches. Seriously -- at some point, it stops being a trend and becomes the new normal:
There has already been more pitches 98 MPH+ than in all of the 2008 season.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 22, 2016
2016 - 1532
2008 - 1503
Reds pitcher Alfredo Simon, however, zigs while the rest of MLB zags. As his contemporaries break 98-mph regularly, Simon dropped a 54-mph pitch in the middle of the second inning against the Mariners on Sunday.
Mariners shortstop Shawn O'Malley could do nothing but stare at the comparably-glacial eephus.
And yet Simon, who is no stranger to the eephus, has thrown slower. His pitch Sunday wasn't even the slowest of the season -- that was Clayton Kershaw's 46-mph pitch to Tyler Flowers in April.
Who knows? Maybe instead of triple digits, throwing as slow as you can will be the next big thing in pitching.
