Yasiel Puig is not going to bat flip after every home run this year — or so he says. That makes me sad, because I like bat flips. Luckily for me, and really baseball fans everywhere, one Dodgers player has been keenly observing the ways master of the bat flip, and was ready to put all that he had learned at the knee of baseball’s undisputed bat flipping king.
Was it Adrian Gonzalez? No. Maybe rookie sensation Joc Pederson? Still no.
It was All-Star pitcher Zack Greinke. With Puig on the disabled list, someone on the Dodgers roster really needs to step up to the plate and flip some bats, but did anyone really expect it to be a pitcher?
Greinke is actually a pretty decent hitter, and at one time thought about playing professional golf. He’s got a career .213/.261/.323 slash line, which is enough to make Ryan Lavarnway jealous.
Q: Where did the bat flip come from? Zack Greinke: It’s always there. I just haven’t hit one hard like that in a while.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) May 6, 2015
You’ve got to love a pitcher with the stones to bat flip, but Greinke was not done last night. Here, he appeals his own checked swing to the first base umpire before being rung up.
He also explained himself after that little escapade.
“Adrian Beltre does it all the time and I’ve always liked it. I think this is the first time he said I did swing. So that was disappointing”
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) May 6, 2015
Greinke helped everyone out one more time before the end of the game, reminding Elian Herrera to take his base after issuing a walk in the eighth inning. All in all, it was a pretty good night for Zack Greinke, as he went 7 2/3 innings and allowed only one run. He improved to 5-0 for the 2015 season, and has won 10 straight decisions dating back to last season. The most important part of last night’s performance, may have been the creation of a new bat flipping rivalry with Yasiel Puig. Anything that can bring Puig back to his bat flipping ways is good in my books, even if it takes a pitcher bat flipping on a double to do it.
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