Take Your Base
There’s nothing like drawing a 22-pitch walk to get the boys fired up
It’s the middle of March and spring training has been cooking for over a month now. Is that too much spring training? Maybe. Are we ready for some actual, honest-to-goodness baseball? You betcha, and in two weeks, we’ll have it. In the meantime, however, we’ll just have to content ourselves with the sort of bizarro-world highlights that only warm-up ball in central Florida can deliver, such as Mets second baseman Luis Guillorme drawing an absolutely absurd 22-pitch walk on Sunday. Settle in and check it out. This might take awhile.
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Mama always said patience was a virtue and boy if Luis didn’t listen, fighting off, sitting on, and fouling back an incredible 22 pitches from St. Louis Cardinals’ closer Jordan Hicks before finally taking his base. Even more incredible is the fact that Guillorme fell behind 0-2 in the count on the first two pitches and then hung in there for 19 straight. That's like hitting blackjack on 10 cards, and the Mets dugout celebrated likewise, whoopin' and hollerin' like they had just recorded the final out of the World Series.
As for Hicks, well, let’s just say the highlight is not quite as flattering. Hicks missed most of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery and then opted out of the COVID-shortened 2020 season. Sunday was his first game back in nearly two years, and he lasted all of one batter, being pulled after Guillorme’s remarkable battle. But hey, don’t sweat, kid. That’s why they call it “training.”