In his final at bat last night, Bo Naylor struck out against Diamondbacks infielder Josh Rojas.
He’s the 14th Cleveland hitter to strike out against a position player over the last 50 seasons joining:
- Franmil Reyes
- Oscar Mercado
- Mike Freeman
- Eric Haase
- Roberto Perez (twice)
- Jose Ramirez
- Brandon Guyer
- Mike Napoli
- Jerry Sands
- Asdrubal Cabrera
- Carlos Martinez/Glenallen Hill*
- Mel Hall
Martinez’s inclusion gets an asterisk because it was an add situation.
With the Indians leading the A’s 10-2 in the bottom of the 8th, Martinez fouled off a pitch against A’s pitcher Kelly Downs, who then began shouting at Martinez because he swung “too hard.”
Martinez shouted back and both players were ejected with the count at 2-2.
A’s manager Tony La Russa brought third baseman Kevin Seitzer in to pitch, and Mike Hargrove called upon Glenallen Hill, who took the only pitch he saw for a strike, resulting in a strikeout.
Some odd rules apply to this situation, which officially result in Seitzer getting credit for a strikeout of Martinez, even though they never actually faced each other.
It’s also worth mentioning Naylor’s strikeout occurred before collecting his first career hit. While I can’t confirm this, it’s reasonable to guess he may be the first player in MLB history to strike out against a position player before recording a hit.
