Marcus Stroman, ever the athlete, became the latest American League pitcher to show why the designated hitter is simply unnecessary:
Last night's feature presentation at the #StroShow: @MStrooo6 crushing his 1st career homer! pic.twitter.com/H5dme1RtOc
— Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 19, 2017
There aren’t too many pitchers who have easy opposite field power, but Stroman isn’t your run of the mill starting pitcher.
Stroman became the first Toronto Blue Jays pitcher to go yard since Mark Hendrickson – who did it while listed at 6-foot-9, 240 pounds – in 2003. And he did it in style, too, beating the Atlanta Braves’ best pitcher, Julio Teheran:
Stroman with the bomb!! pic.twitter.com/L3tOAWFzJC
— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 19, 2017
He also became the first pitcher listed at 5-foot-8 or shorter to hit a big fly in The Show since Tom Phoebus of the Baltimore Orioles in 1968. Just when you thought the interleague series between the Braves and Blue Jays couldn’t get more interesting over the last few days, leave it to pitchers who rake to kick up the intrigue.
Maybe Stroman can make a pitch to take more swings down the line, he is hitting .500 with a 1.500 slugging percentage in 2017. And to think, that was just part of Stroman’s dominance on Thursday. He also added 5.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts against an Atlanta lineup that plated eight runs just the night before.
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Not a bad night all around.
That was unbelievably fun. Exhausted after that one. Baltimore bound with the squad! ✈️ #HDMH @BlueJays
— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) May 19, 2017