PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Transfer over, Ghost Fork. The Miracle Ball is right here.
It was the second-slowest pitch Senga has thrown in an American recreation, 0.3 mph firmer than an analogous curveball he threw in opposition to the Rays as a rookie. Requested afterward in regards to the pitch to Pozo, Senga responded by way of an interpreter: “The Miracle Ball.”
“I didn’t have any ideas,” Senga mentioned. “I simply threw it frivolously, and it went within the zone. So … nice!”
Requested if he expects to make it a extra common a part of his arsenal, Senga replied: “I feel if it’s that gradual, I’m going to remorse it if it will get hit, so I don’t know.”
One among Senga’s countrymen, Yu Darvish, is well-known for throwing eephus pitches occasionally, delivering these as gradual as 51 mph. Though Senga’s arsenal contains seven distinct pitches — together with a curveball he throws about 2% of the time (and that usually rests within the low 70s) — he’s largely a three-pitch pitcher, counting on a four-seamer, a cutter and his signature Ghost Fork. This spring, he has additionally experimented with a sinker.
It’s in all probability secure to imagine Senga gained’t be throwing The Miracle Ball as regularly as his Ghost Fork, a two-strike weapon that opponents have hit at a .113 clip since he entered the Majors. However maybe he’ll create — or spawn — extra funky pitch names. When one in all Senga’s teammates, Tylor Megill, developed a splitter of his personal two years in the past, he named it “The American Spork” in homage to Senga.
Requested if “The Miracle Ball” was a title of his personal creation, Senga laughed and mentioned fairly cryptically: “Let’s not discuss that.”
