Every night in baseball, it seems, something happens that was totally unpredictable or something you’ve never seen before.
That was definitely true on Friday when the Cleveland Guardians played the Kansas City Royals.
In an otherwise insignificant game on the second Friday in April, strikeout magic happened.
Here’s the scene: Jonathan India is batting for the Royals. Hunter Gaddis is pitching for the Guardians.
With two strikes, Gaddis runs a pitch inside on India.
India starts to swing, just a bit, which moves his bat knob toward the path of the pitch.
Guardians catcher Austin Hedges reaches his glove toward the inner half to catch the fastball.
But the pitch deflects off India’s bat knob, a foul ball.
Except the deflection doesn’t reach the dirt. It lands on Hedges’ right quad, where he quickly brings his barehand to grab it.
It’s a foul-tip strikeout of the most unfathomable construction.
That’s one way to do it 🤣 pic.twitter.com/nfFxeQAgY6
— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2025
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Hedges is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, so he definitely deserves some credit for the quick reaction on this one behind the dish.
Gaddis is one of baseball’s fast-rising relievers, having struck out 13.5 batters per nine innings last season.
India winds up pretty darn unlucky on one of the wildest plays you’ll see that doesn’t end up with the ball in play.
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