Yesterday we noted the improbable rise to the bigs by one Sean Doolittle, the very recently converted slugger who now strikes out guys by the bucketful as a relief pitcher. He made his major league debut last night for the A’s. And he was good.
Doolittle pitched an inning and a third. He threw 21 pitches. All 21 of them were fastballs. He faced four guys, striking out three of them. Doolittle:
The guys he faced:
- Nelson Cruz, with a runner on third. Doolitle struck him out after going down 2-0 to him;
- Mike Napoli, who he struck out;
- Yorvit Torreabla, who he struck out; and
- Craig Gentry, who lined out.
Doolittle’s fastballs averaged 94.35 m.p.h. and he topped out at 96.2. As far as debuts go, I think this one qualifies as pretty frickin’ keen.