Not only does he know what to ask of pitchers and when, but apparently Puerto Rican catcher Yadier Molina can pitch too.
The 38-year-old star from Dora, who on Sunday debuted the Athenians of Manatí uniform directed by his brother Cheo in the Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Lbprc), debuted yesterday in another facet of the game when he went up to the mound of Pedro Stadium Román Meléndez de Manatí to launch the last inning of the Athenians’ game against the Indians.
According to the Lbprc baseball researcher and historian, on November 5, 1939, the Santurce Cangrejeros catcher, Joshua Gibson, who also served as manager, threw a third of an inning and did not allow Guayama freedom in a backhand from 23-0.
With the game extremely open, 19-7 at the time, Molina became the Athenians’ seventh pitcher in the game.
First he had to face Jesmuel Valentín, who entered as a pinch hitter for Jeremy Rivera. And Molina had no problems retiring Valentin with a weak ground ball that Molina himself fielded and then hit first.
The second batter, Henry Ramos, he retired with a fly to left field. Two out.
However, the next in the lineup, David Vidal, managed to connect well to a launch from Molina and disappeared into right field. Immediately, Iván de Jesús Jr. shook him a double and the debut of the stellar MLB player seemed to wobble.
But surprising once again, as he often does thanks to his baseball skills, Molina retired dangerous third baseman Emmanuel Rivera with a strikeout, who hit two home runs Sunday and had two on Monday.
In his 17-year major league career, Molina has never stepped on the mound to relieve. According to Baseball Reference, in addition to the bulk of games as a catcher, Molina has played first baseman 46 times, designated hitter four times and third base once.
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