Welcome back to Mound Visit, everyone. Feels good to dust it off after being without major-league games for almost 10 months.
It's been even longer since we have seen Nick Burdi in a big-league game. The last time that happened was April 22, 2019. Watching him writhe in pain on PNC Park's mound that night, some probably wondered if that was going to be the last pitch of his career.
It wasn't, and on Sunday, he made his return by dropping a slider right on the black to Paul Goldschmidt:
Here come a bunch of gifs. Two pitches later, he got the perennial All-Star swinging:
In fairness, he missed the glove on that one. It was probably the only pitch of the outing that should've been hit.
Because this fastball that he got another All-Star, Paul DeJong, with sure isn't touchable:
Look at this pitch chart of what Burdi offered DeJong. They were all fastballs. He even had the advantage of going up 2-0. But the threat of a breaking ball -- and the fact that the two have such similar flight paths up to the point where the hitter has to pull the trigger -- made him have to commit as Burdi just kept going higher with his pitches.
To continue reading, log into your account:
