Any MLB hitter who had the daunting task of having to stand in the batter’s box against Mariano Rivera can tell you how difficult it was to make good contact against the game’s all-time greatest closer, and former Texas Rangers shortstop tried to help put that in perspective.
Rivera made history on Monday by becoming the first player in history to be unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Young is among those who understand why. Young shared a story on Twitter about how the Rangers used to have a way to signal to hitters whether Rivera was throwing his famous cut fastball inside or out, but it apparently did not help.
Here’s my Mo story…
We’d have the guy in the on deck circle use the metal donut. If Jorge set up inside he’d knock the donut off hard, hitter would hear it, and know it was cutter inside…ya, not very obvious. It worked. He’d get 3 outs on 12 pitches instead of 9. Congrats Mo!— Michael Young (@MikeyY626) January 23, 2019
That’s part of what made Rivera so great. Hitters literally knew what pitch was coming, and they still only hit .211 off of him during his 19 MLB seasons. Figuring out if he was going to try to throw his cutter outside or at your hands was only half the battle, and that’s what Young alluded to.
When you look at the names of some of the players who were not elected to the Hall of Fame unanimously, it gives you an idea of just how dominant Rivera was. There are countless stories like Young’s, and we never get bored of hearing them.
