Former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Zack Greinke is a national treasure. The 39 year old re-signed with the Kansas City Royals this offseason for what will be his 19th season. Throughout his tenure, he has been known for some hilarious antics while out on the mound, but this sequence of events in a recent spring training game may be one of his best moments.
In order to avoid a pitch clock violation, Zack Greinke threw a 47 MPH eephus pitch.
Zack Greinke was having issues with his PitchCom device and instead of taking a clock violation, he just throws a 47 MPH eephus pitch pic.twitter.com/PGvP4WQdYV
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) March 15, 2023
The pitch clock rules state that a pitcher needs to have started the motion to deliver a pitch prior to the clock reaching zero. There are rules that place a hitter in the box at a reasonable time. The pitch time also changes depending upon if there are runners on base or not.
It appeared during the video that Zack Greinke was having issues with the PitchCom system. With the pitch clock nearing zero, he elected to throw a pitcher rather than have an automatic ball be issued.
When the PitchCom system was working, Zack Greinke called off a pitch that he selected.
Greinke calling his own pitch & shaking himself off. 😀 pic.twitter.com/NR1oTqSy1G
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 15, 2023
Throughout baseball history, catchers would relay signals to their pitchers that were “shake offs”. The goal of this was to keep the hitter guessing as to what pitch may be next. PitchCom allows pitchers to get their pitch called without a sign being laid down, so to see Zack Greinke shake off his own pitch is hilarious.
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