Zack Greinke has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for years, and his stuff remains as good as ever. So good, in fact, that the Houston Astros star can tell a hitter what’s coming and still blow the ball by him.
Greinke and Astros catcher Martin Maldonado got a bit crossed up with their signs at one point during Wednesday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants. You could clearly hear Greinke shouting the signs at Maldonado and saying “second sign after one” and “second sign after two.”
Zack Greinke: Calling out the signs.
Legend. pic.twitter.com/TNws9niKXF
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 13, 2020
The call-outs were a lot easier to hear with no fans in the ballpark, but Greinke wanted to be sure Giants infielder Mauricio Dubon knew what was coming. The right-hander literally flashed a “two” sign during Dubon’s at-bat and then struck him out with a nasty slider.
Zack Greinke, Calling his own pitch/Filthy Slider. pic.twitter.com/CzCyQ48H6T
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 13, 2020
Greinke has always marched to the beat of his own drum, and we saw a great example of that with his reason for reporting late to spring training earlier this year. It didn’t seem like he was trying to embarrass Dubon, but that was the result. When your slider has that much bite, it really doesn’t matter if the hitter knows it’s coming.
