Posnanski tells several Greinke stories and provides tons of odd and interesting quotes from the young pitcher. My favorite anecdote from Posnanski? It would have to be this one:
So, there was this game when Royals relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt gave up a home run. He was upset in the dugout, of course, and he stormed around, muttering at himself, “Man, that wasn’t even that bad of a pitch.” Of course, all his teammates kept their distance.
All except Zack Greinke.
“That wasn’t even that bad of a pitch,” Affeldt barked at himself again.
“Actually,” Zack said, “it was a pretty bad pitch.”
Affeldt looked up at Greinke. “Thanks, Zack,” Affeldt said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“No,” Zack said, “really, I went back to the clubhouse and looked at the pitch on video. It was a really bad pitch. Right over the middle of the plate, and you got it up. I mean it was a bad pitch.”
“Thanks, Zack,” Affeldt said again.
“Right down the middle. I could have hit it out,” Greinke said.
Affeldt looked into Greinke’s eager face and just shook his head.
“Thanks, Zack,” he said.
“Yeah,” Greinke said, and he walked back to his seat in the dugout.
Kind of lengthy but definitely funny.
Greinke has been through a lot at such a young age, but it seems that he's finally turning the corner. And he seems poised to have a great season. But seriously, read the article; it's very good.
The one where he says "I'm going to throw a 50 mph curveball" and then does exactly that is pretty amazing if true. How do you hit a 96 mph fastball after seeing that kind of slow loopy pitch?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea. It must be nice to be so talented that he could/can just go to the mound and do whatever he wants.
ReplyDeleteI also found it funny that he kept talking about his changeup. Great stuff.