That’s not the part you’re supposed to hit the ball with.
Rangers outfielder Adolis García has a five-game hit streak going, but not all of those hits are created equal.
On Wednesday, he hit a grand slam against the Astros that led both benches to clear. On Sunday, he kept his streak alive with a weak dribbler that he hit off the very end of his bat.
Facing Blake Snell in third inning of the game in San Diego, García checked his swing on an inside fastball. He barely started the swing, but moved his bat just enough that the knob was facing toward the mound. Improbably, the ball glanced off tiny bit of exposed wood and skittered past Snell. Second baseman Ha-Seong Kim’s only hope of making a play was to flip the ball with his glove, but García reached safely by just a hair.
Adolis García, Knob Single ???????? pic.twitter.com/nl0A9L77sa
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) July 30, 2023
It’s even more impressive that García was able to reach safely considering he didn’t immediately start running to first. After the ball hit the knob of the bat, he recoiled in pain before realizing that it had actually ricocheted into fair territory. You know it had to have hurt because he was still grimacing after he ran to first.
Oh, and if you’re wondering about the exit velocity of a ball hit off the knob of the bat, Statcast measured it at 43.0 mph.
