WASHINGTON — The unorthodox pitching motion of Miami Marlins reliever Carter Capps has fans, opposing managers, and Major League Baseball discussing whether it’s an illegal pitch.
The white rubber slab on the pitcher’s mound is 60 feet, 6 inches from home plate. After starting his delivery, Capps takes a hop off the rubber before delivering the ball, resulting in his being considerably closer to home plate when he releases the ball.
legal pitch or nah? pic.twitter.com/sdNI4dXrky
— nick pants (@nick_pants) April 14, 2015
Say hello to Carter Capps, your favorite new weirdo pitcher. (via @nick_pants) http://t.co/FyiTBnCt2k pic.twitter.com/YBc8LhpFwo
— SB Nation (@SBNation) April 14, 2015
Capps’ motion came into question last week, while pitching with the Marlins Triple-A New Orleans minor league team.
In that game, each of Capps’ first two pitches were ruled illegal by the umpire, resulting in automatic balls.
The next day, the Marlins consulted Major League Baseball to get clarification on what Capps was doing wrong, before recalling him to the major leagues.
The 24-year-old Capps has 89 games of major league experience. He pitched in 2012 and 2013 with the Seattle Mariners, and was traded to the Marlins at the beginning of last year.
Looking at videos posted online, Capps’ hopping motion has evolved and become more pronounced over the years.
“It doesn’t look pretty, obviously,” Capps told MLB.com, “but that’s the first time anybody had a blatant problems with it.”
Describing his clarification from Major League Baseball: “They didn’t want me to get too much elevation. They understand I’m going to come off the rubber, but they wanted me to drag my toe a little bit more. I’m going to try to do that.”
