Position players pitching has lost much of its appeal in recent years. What used to be a rare moment of whimsical absurdity is now used increasingly often as a purely practical strategy to preserve bullpen arms. But that doesn’t mean seeing a position player on the mound can’t be a joy sometimes, like when Willians Astudillo threw two 46 mph strikes a few weeks ago or on Wednesday night, when Anthony Rizzo got Freddie Freeman to strike out swinging.
The Braves roughed up Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (seven runs in 3 2/3 innings) and tacked on another three runs off of Alec Mills to make it 10–0, at which point manager David Ross called on Rizzo to take the hill.