Every pitcher has their own unique windup, but most are pretty typical.
A few pitchers stand out from the crowd. Guys like Dontrelle Willis with his leg kick, Pat Neshek who pitches like Marge Simpson or Johnny Cueto who does a little shimmy before throwing. The list goes on, and Giants prospect Yapson Gomez can be added to that list.
Gomez made his spring training debut for the Giants on Tuesday, pitching against the Rangers in the fifth inning. Gomez was solid, recording two strikeouts in a scoreless inning. But we're here to talk about his insane windup.
This windup 🤯🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/G2sBthWRmP
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) March 3, 2020
MORE: Five strong spring training overreactions
Some people loved it.
You can't like the Soto shuffle and then not like this. It's a two-way street. Love this kind of stuff https://t.co/zIheA68bEI
— F.P. Santangelo Jr. (@Franky_P_) March 3, 2020
Others hated it.
This is gonna be reallllll annoying in the 11th inning of a game when it takes 25 minutes to get 3 outs
— Max Schreiber (@baseballrodent) March 3, 2020
Some made jokes
me at the club https://t.co/5QUhMX2S4D
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) March 4, 2020
Yapson Gomez's windup, explained
Chances are, you probably haven't heard of Yapson Gomez unless you're really a diehard baseball fan. He's played seven seasons of minor league baseball, most recently with the Cleveland Indians' Class-A Lynchburg Hillcats.
Throughout the course of his minor league pitching career, Gomez has always had an odd delivery. Reporter Anders Jorstad covered some of his minor league games, and says that Gomez has changed his styles a number of times.
"Believe it or not, this is actually more condensed than how he did it at times in Lynchburg last year," Jorstad tweeted about Gomez's Giants video. "He adds a new hitch to it every couple of weeks, though. ... Sometimes he adds little flares and variations in there to mix it up. In Frederick the crowd was taunting him for it so he added a point to the crowd in the middle of it all."
Jorstad also said he asked Gomez about why he does it, and here's what he said.
Fun fact about the Yapson Gomez warm-up: He told me last year he does this because he used to be a starter and liked doing the wind-up. They made him pitch out of the stretch when he moved to the 'pen, but he was uncomfortable. So this was the compromise. https://t.co/OWDwVOT2qm
— Anders Jorstad (@AndersJorstad) March 4, 2020
Yapson Gomez's windup history
2017
This is Yapson Gomez of the Eugene Emeralds and he's got a pitching style all his own @enosarris pic.twitter.com/m2Fd23IvEl
— Patrick Johnston (@risingaction) June 30, 2017
2017
Yapson Gomez of the @EugeneEmeralds has one funky delivery. pic.twitter.com/d9aFdp2cWq
— Hank Stern (@HenryStern) July 5, 2017
2018
Yapson Gomez in relief for the South Bend Cubs during tonight's @wmwhitecaps game. I have never seen a pre-windup ritual quite like this. Did it between every single pitch. #RoosterStomp pic.twitter.com/gSbVQsoTgz
— HookSlide (@HookSlide23) July 31, 2018
2019
Yapson Gómez earns his fourth save of the season for Lynchburg tonight and has only allowed 3 runs since May 1. Also, he has the best pre-pitch routine in minor league baseball. Yes, he does this every time. pic.twitter.com/TueiRfZZ94
— Anders Jorstad (@AndersJorstad) July 7, 2019
2019
Tonight at the Frederick Keys game... Yapson Gomez @PitchingNinja pic.twitter.com/Sb4oH137Et
— ryanwakc ⎔ (@ryanwakc) July 4, 2019
2019
The legend of Yapson Gomez continues here in the @MiLB_CarolinaLg @MiLB pic.twitter.com/nDW1my78sp
— Cory Nidoh (@Cory_Nidoh) August 15, 2019
