Daily dose of Yordan (Game 55)

Statline for today: 0-2, HBP, K

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At bat 1 (Bottom of first): 3 pitch hit by pitch

First pitch was a high curve Yordan took for ball 1.Then Yordan watched a borderline high inside fastball that was called for a strike. Then Yordan narrowly avoided an absolute dirt spike curve that narrowly grazed his foot for a hit by pitch. Very unconventional at bat but it got the job done. He would later advance to second on a Kyle Tucker single but didn't score.

At bat 2 (Bottom of third): 4 pitch strikeout swinging

Yordan took offspeed right down the middle for strike one, before fouling off a low fastball the other way for strike two. He then watched a curve way out of the zone before attempting to check swing but went all the way for strike 3.

At bat 3 (Bottom of sixth): 4 pitch groundout to first

Yordan took a bleh call on an outside offspeed for strike one, and then fouled off another low offspeed out of the zone for strike two. He then took a fastball that sailed outside for ball one, before hitting a really good low pitch to the right side. Unfortunately, the radically shifted first baseman was hugging the line, leading to an anassisted groundout.

Not at bat 4 (Bottom of eighth): 4 pitches, Bregman picked off second

Yordan took an inside fastball for strike one, and then fouled off a high fastball for strike 2 before taking another higher fastball for ball one. He then took a high pitchout ball that the catcher picked off Bregman on second with, ending the inning and making Yordan's at bat meaningless. Pretty boneheaded move to get caught flat footed, especially with 2 outs and a hitter of Yordan's caliber batting.

Overall analysis:

All in all while it may look like a down night for Yordan, he still was recognizing and doing what he normally does on the pitches in the zone, he just wasn't able to capitalize. Something interesting to note is that Yordan played left field today with Altuve at DH, and while he didn't look particularly good out there he made some nice routine snags and overall wasn't bad, something I hope continues in the future. Yordan also got mostly offspeed from the Red Sox starter today, while the reliever that "faced" him in the 8th threw all fastballs. It didn't really affect his performance differently, but I felt it was worth noting the different approaches they had to facing Yordan.