Ex-Red Sox Brock Holt Compares His Eephus To Mariano Rivera’s Cutter

Unless you were living under a rock on Aug. 7, 2021, you likely remember one of the greatest pitching performances in MLB history: Texas Rangers utility man Brock Holt’s scoreless inning to close out a 12-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

In the game, Holt featured a heavy diet of eephus pitches, which became a signature pitch for the utility man across his three pitching appearances. The unique approach begged the question: How would the uncommon pitch have been called using the growing PitchCom device?

“I don’t think we needed signs,” Holt told NESN’s Tom Caron on the “TC & Company Podcast.” “I think everybody knew, it was like Mariano (Rivera), we knew he was throwing the cutter. You knew you were getting the eephus from me.

“Me and (then-Rangers catcher Luis Trevino) were on the same page that day, which is why I was able to get out of that inning unscathed and put a zero up.”

Holt’s outing was memorable because he threw the slowest pitch for a strike in Major League Baseball history, clocking in at 31.1 mph. He logged six strikes on 10 pitches thrown, allowing a hit in the scoreless appearance and dropping his career ERA from 13.50 to 7.71.

To hear the full conversation about Holt’s record-setting outing, how he received the ball after the historic pitch and his experiences as an involved member of the Jimmy Fund, check out the latest episode of the “TC & Company Podcast” on iTunes or Spotify.