Catcher makes Yankees base runner look stupid with insane no-look move
The 2018 MLB regular season has yet to kick off, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some truly impressive performances so far, particularly as minor leaguers try to prove themselves at spring training.
One of those performances came Tuesday night courtesy of Willians Astudillo, a catcher in the Minnesota Twins farm system.
With the Twins leading the New York Yankees 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, left-handed Yankees first baseman Greg Bird came into the batter’s box and swung and missed at the first pitch.
That would have been the end of the play, except for the fact that Astudillo was paying close attention to pinch runner Shane Robinson, who had only just entered the game and was taking a sizable lead off first.
After the pitch, Robinson nonchalantly walked back to the bag. His lack of urgency ended up hurting him.
Without even turning his head toward the bag, Astudillo caught the pitch and immediately fired to first, where first baseman Kennys Vargas received the throw and immediately tagged out the runner.
Robinson barely saw it coming. He tried to slide safely into the bag once he realized what was going on, but his desperate attempt was far too late.
Astudillo’s amazing no-look play soon went viral, accumulating more than 1.75 million views and nearly 9,000 retweets on Twitter.
And it didn’t just catch the attention of fans.
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” a former major league catcher who now works as a scout for a National League team told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. “I’ve never seen that play work before — ever.”
For Astudillo, a 26-year-old native of Venezuela, it’s probably the most attention he has received in his professional baseball career.
“Only one look,” he said with a smile. “I’m looking for the runner looking down so I can throw fast. It was perfect.”
What made it even better is that Robinson — the victim of the heads-up play — used to play for the Twins.
“Shane got mad,” said Vargas, who alertly received Astudillo’s throw and immediately applied the tag. “He wasn’t expecting the throw. Nobody was expecting it. When he got out, he was like, ‘Ohhhh!’”
According to Astudillo, the play has worked two times before — once in the Venezuelan Winter League and once in the Florida State League.
“I’m trying to put it on the base, every time, he said. “Maybe a couple of throws end up in right field, but I’m looking every time before the game to see if I can try it.”
Twins first-base coach Jeff Smith, who used to manage Astudillo in the minors, said he has encouraged the catcher to perfect the no-look play. “He’s good at it,” Smith said. “It’s fun. It brings a lot of energy. It’s a cool play. He’s always looking for an advantage to get an out for the team. He saw an advantage there and took it.”
Even Twins manager Paul Molitor liked what he saw.
“I didn’t know it was Shane at first,” Molitor said. “I think (Astudillo) would have got a lot of guys. I’m glad Kennys was looking. It was entertaining.”
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