Sorry, Chad Bradford. There’s a new reliever with a weird delivery in the MLB, and his name’s Carter Capps.
Capps has actually been around the majors since 2012, playing for the Mariners before getting traded to the Marlins a few months before the 2014 season. He made his first appearance last night against the Braves, and everyone noticed his unique pitching motion:
After Capps winds up, he lunges forward, dragging his foot off the rubber. The hop looks illegal, but according to the MLB, his delivery’s acceptable as long as he pushes forward instead of up:
“It doesn’t look pretty, obviously,” Capps said. “But that’s the first time anybody had a blatant problem with it. They didn’t want me to get too much elevation. They understand I’m going to come off the rubber, but they wanted me to drag my toe a little bit more. I’m going to try to do that.”
Here’s more video of Capps pitching last night, if you want to attempt to figure out how he doesn’t roll his ankle. He pitched a perfect inning, but the Braves won, 3-2.