The Week In Worst

Welcome to the first part of what could be a recurring weekly series, depending on a few things. In this post or series, we will review recent baseball action and identify the worst pitches, swings, and defensive plays. We will then show them and talk about them, because baseball players do amazing things most of the time, and horrible things very little of the time. When they do horrible things, our hearts are warmed, because we feel closer to them. We could also do horrible things on a baseball field if given the chance.

Now, a few quick things before we get started. I settled on the name of this post or series before doing any actual work, and while it could be weekly, this one will not just look at the past week. It will look at the entire season to date. Or, more accurately, it will look at the entire season up through Wednesday, April 18, because that’s presently the latest data I have access to. The headline for this post is a flat-out lie.

Additionally, while I have statistical means of identifying the worst pitches and swings, I can’t use math to identify the worst defensive plays. Identifying the worst defensive play is subjective, and I don’t watch every baseball game that there is. I see a lot of bad defensive plays, and I try to .gif them, but for the sake of this section, please do not hesitate to direct recommendations to me on Twitter at @LookoutLanding. I have two eyes and one computer. Effectively, I have one eye, because they always work together. As a group, we have several eyes and several computers. It is only with your help that we can make sure we’ve found the worst defensive play of the week.

On to the .gifs. I remember when I first learned how to make a baseball .gif. I honestly don’t know if I would have a job were it not for that day.

Pitcher
Jonathan Sanchez

Date
April 8

Location
63.4 inches from center of zone

I think it’s appropriate that our first worst pitch of 2012 was uncorked by Jonathan Sanchez, who feels bad for the strike zone and wishes it didn’t get so much abuse. I know this pitch doesn’t look that bad - it just looks like a pitch in the dirt - but slow-motion instant replay reveals just how much in the dirt it actually was.

Date
April 15

Result
481-foot homer

I’m going to have the pitch with the worst location, and the pitch hit for the longest home run, because if the purpose of a pitch is to be missed or to be mis-hit, then you can’t fail more than by giving up a long dinger. Here we see Luis Mendoza throwing that pitch to Travis Hafner and I don’t need to describe that pitch because you can see with your own eyes what pitch that was and how bad it was to throw.

Indians Fan: YESSSS
Usher: They cannot pay me enough for this.

Date
April 18

Location
41.4 inches from center of zone

Date
April 12

I have not been keeping that close of an eye on things, so it’s possible that this isn’t the worst defensive play of the season, through April 18. But I find it hard to believe that there could have been a worse defensive play, because I’m not sure Garza even got the direction of his throw correct. It would be one thing if Garza had thrown wild to first base. Pitchers throw wild to first base all the time. Garza’s throw was so bad I’m not convinced he was trying to throw to first base at all. I think for a moment Matt Garza blanked on being a pitcher and thought his right arm was a t-shirt cannon.

The context only makes this all the more disastrous, as this error came with two outs in the ninth. Garza was subsequently removed, coming this error away from a complete-game shutout. “He was so close!” you might say. No, he wasn’t. Nothing about this was close.