Normally I would not ask you to pay attention to a late half-inning in a 16–0 June blowout, where pretty much by definition nothing that happens matters in the slightest. This is no normal half-inning! First of all the pitcher is Brewers utility man Hernán Pérez, making his second appearance on the mound of the season, and position-player pitching is often a hoot. Second of all, and more importantly, Pérez didn’t even bother to pretend to take this appearance seriously, imitating the deliveries of various pitchers, throwing every one of his pitches under 75 miles per hour, and generally acting like a great big goof on the mound. And it worked!
We’ve got the Johnny Cueto-esque shimmy, the glorious Bronson Arroyo leg kick, and a glove move Pérez attributes to teammate Alex Claudio. Is Pérez just an astute observer of pitcher deliveries? Does he work on these in his spare time? Hell nah—turns out when he found out he’d be pitching later in the blowout loss, Pérez went to YouTube to watch videos of various styles of delivery, for inspiration:
I see no reason why the Washington Nationals couldn’t at least try the YouTube approach with their bullpen. Couldn’t hurt.
H/t fusilliGaryBettman