Bleed Cubbie Blue · Aug 31, 2018
2018 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 133
Tommy La Stella pinch hit against Jacob deGrom the other night with a runner on first and no outs in a tie game. I noticed in that at bat that deGrom mostly threw fastballs with a mix of right down the middle and just slightly in. I have to acknowledge that deGrom is one of the hardest throwing starting pitchers in baseball. But, the implication was clear. La Stella was not going to do any real damage and so he just went right after him. In the odd chance that La Stella did catch up with a fastball, the expectation was that it would only be a single. And with Albert Almora on first, it would be a hard single to left, so it wouldn’t even send the runner to third likely.