A.J. Pierzynski Has Elite Flopping Skills

A.J. Pierzynski has long been one of baseball's most notorious heels, so it makes sense that he would become the first catcher to add shameless flopping to his repertoire. That's a flop Chris Paul would be proud of.

We can't really hate on A.J., though, as he did take a blow from Travis Ishikawa on the backswing, and was embellishing the results of the contact rather than inventing it. And it worked, too! The runner on first, who had advanced when the ball scooted away from Pierzynski, was forced to return to his base.

What's most impressive is that Pierzynski even thought to flop in the first place. That stuff is ingrained in basketball and soccer players, but what kind of baseball catcher is prepared to just go straight to the theatrics when need be? Some team should make Pierzynski its manager when he's done playing, if only because it might lead to the institution of spring training flopping drills.