Hansel Robles has been varying his leg kick at times this season, seemingly in an effort to mess with opposing hitters’ timing. He did it again while closing out the Los Angeles Angels’ 9-6 win over the Houston Astros on Monday night.
While facing Yuli Gurriel in the ninth inning, Robles triple-pumped his leg kick to mess with the Astros hitter.
Hansel Robles, Messing with Timing/Quadruple Leg Pump.
Also, pretty sure he fooled both Smith and Gurriel into looking for the ball (which was way out of play) because of his trademark "flyball/auto-finger in the air." pic.twitter.com/lwt9ZBbWVl
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 16, 2019
Gurriel ended up with a single, so the strategy didn’t appear to work too well.
But there was one benefit: Rob Friedman, who goes by Pitching Ninja on Twitter, put together this funny remix:
Hansel Robles vs a Siberian Husky, Mechanics. pic.twitter.com/xi6cNCKCeh
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 16, 2019
We love it.
Robles has 14 saves and a 2.62 ERA this season. He’s been using this strategy at times during the season. The 28-year-old has become much better with the Angels than he was with the Mets.
