That being said, Jenrry Mejia is pretty awesome
So I’ve written a whole bunch about how I don’t think Jenrry Mejia should be in the Major League bullpen this year without having ever really seen the guy pitch.
Now that’s changed, and whoa, nelly.
Mejia just finished off 2 1/3 perfect innings in a meaningless game against the Marlins. He struck out four batters and yielded two grounders to short and a lazy fly ball to left.
By my count, Mejia threw 19 fastballs, topping out at 96 miles per hour on SNY’s gun. Most of them sat around 94 or 95, and I don’t think any were slower than 93. Of the 19 heaters, 17 were strikes — either swinging or called.
He threw two of what I think were changeups in the high 80s. One was a called strike, the other missed the inside corner.
He also threw four curveballs. They appeared to move a lot, but a couple of them missed pretty wildly. Three of them were balls, one was a called strike.
This is a tiny sample of course, and Mejia was hardly facing the Marlins’ Opening Day lineup, but, well, damn. I still obviously don’t think he should be anywhere near the Major League roster anytime soon, but when you see a 20-year-old rely mostly on one pitch to completely beguile big-league (or close to big-league) hitters, you can start to understand what all the fuss is about.
Fire up the hype machine.
