Hunt and Peck

The anatomy of a pitcher home run - A Hunt and Peck

Let’s break this down.

By lil_scooter93 Aug 15, 2018, 1:00pm EDT

MLB: Washington Nationals at St. Louis Cardinals

Previously on Hunt and Peck we have broken down a few things. First we looked at the different parts of a walk off home run. That was good thing too, because the Cardinals lead all of baseball with ten walk off hits - eight of them home runs. We have also unpacked a player-umpire argument from an Independent League game. Now, we shall continue our work with the ever rare and ever prized pitcher homer. Let us begin with the full video:

The somewhat awkward swing

There are usually no style points for a pitcher home run. Bat hits ball, pitcher runs bases. Simple, yet beautiful in that simplicity. John Gant does not even have batting gloves. That probably is some else’s bat. This is his first major league hit and he made it count.

The surprised everyone

I like to look at the opposing team as they watch an unexpected home run. One can kind of see their thoughts go from “no way” to “oh, so this is how today is going to go”.

The teammates are fun to watch, too. My favorite in this particular gif is the first base coach:

The guy that is more excited than everyone else

For the Cardinals, this person tends to be either Carlos Martínez or, as is the case in this home run, Luke Weaver. Did Weaver need to jump the railing? Absolutely not. Did he let that stop him? Absolutely not.