Toronto Pitcher Marcus Stroman Enters Bullet Time, Deflects Liner for Easy Out

Marcus Stroman was nearly decapitated Monday.

At the very least, the Blue Jays pitcher could’ve found himself picking Chiclets out of the dirt after a vicious comebacker zipped back toward the mound.

The scary moment occurred in the first inning of Monday's game against the Chicago Cubs when left fielder Chris Coghlan smacked a line drive directly back at Stroman’s face. Somewhere in that horrifying moment between the bat crack and the ball’s trip to the mound, Stroman’s orthodontist grinned—only to be disappointed by the pitcher’s Nightcrawler reflexes.

Stroman bent his body out of the way, catching a piece of the ball with his glove and deflecting it to Jose Reyes for a simple out.

It’s difficult to overstate how poorly this could have gone. Comebackers aren’t baseballs. They are bullets, and rarely does one walk away with a net positive after bullets fly at your orbital socket.

In any case, nothing and no one at Rogers Centre on Monday night appeared capable of throwing the 23-year-old pitcher off his game. Stroman struck out eight and tallied zero walks as the Blue Jays romped to an 8-0 win over the Cubs.

Eric Koreen of the National Post reports that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons gushed over his young, blossoming pitcher's outing after the game.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Gibbons said. “[Stroman]’s far ahead of his experience level. He’s a positive, upbeat guy. He’s as confident as anybody.”

I’d be confident too if I had Neo blood coursing through my veins. Stroman doesn’t get ruffled by the ball—because he knows there is no ball.

[MLB]

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