I wanted to talk a little about a pitcher the Royals have in their minor league system playing for the NW Arkansas Naturals. His name is Chris Hayes, and he's a very interesting study to say the least. By his own admission, he throws underhanded like a girl, barely hits 74mph with his fastball, and has a change-up that needs an advanced degree in astro-physics to understand. He's truly a unique individual...Oh and by the way, he's got a degree in Computer Science from Northwestern. He's such a smart dude that people are now asking him for computer technical support questions on his blog. How he balances out answering tech support questions and closing for the NW Arkansas Naturals, all the while supporting a sub 2 ERA, I'll never understand.
He's gotta great blog you can check out, and I advise all of you to do so. Many people smarter than myself, including Rany Jazayerli, have broken down his statistics and physical make-up and potential as a Royals prospect so I won't get into that here...but I thought I'd reprint a question I asked him recently regarding the post-game celebratory high-five following a win:
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Could you explain to me the anatomy of the post-game celebratory high five. It seems to me that 2 lines somehow form in what appears to be in perfect conjunction with one another. Both lines dutifully high five one another while the pitcher inadvertently gets his butt slapped. What I don't understand is who and how do the players decide to get in which line? What happens if you get in the wrong line, and are there any consequences?
Aaron D., Kansas City, MO
Walk-off wins are the only wins that don't have a prescribed choreography (I wanted to use the term "blocking" here instead but didn't because I figured my fan-base didn't overlap with theater fans...I've made myself laugh now in proofreading that I ironically settled on "choreography"). Walk-offs are also the wins that make relief pitchers feel really awkward. It's getting off topic, but next time you get the opportunity to see a walk-off win, just watch the relievers and enjoy their awkwardness. They are way late to the party and don't really know how much jumping is enough, yet not too much.
Back on topic. For all non-walk-offs, the pitcher and catcher will meet halfway between the mound and the plate and shake hands. The rest of the fielders who were in the game will congregate just behind second base and congratulate each other and make small talk and then form a line and begin walking towards the mound from second base. The pitcher and catcher will then walk towards the mound from home plate. The bench players will join behind the pitcher and catcher in walking away from home towards the mound in a line. As the two lines meet, the players will high five, knock knuckles, side bump, or execute a hand shake all their own. Once the line moving away from home gets to the end of the line moving towards home, they do an about-face and now become part of the line moving towards home (think trumpet line in a marching band). The manager and a few of his coaches will stay at the foul line and await all the players to eventually make their way back towards the dugout. The fielders who started the line in from second base will make it to the manager first and then the rest will eventually fall in line.
"Inadvertent" butt slaps are a foreign concept to me as all butt slaps I have been a part of (both as slapper and slappee) have been executed knowingly. And consequences for entering the wrong line would probably be pretty severe from both your team and the winning team if you shook off the loss quickly enough to join the butt slap line of the team who just beat you.
Disco Chris Hayes
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