The ball left Eric Hosmer’s racket at 96 miles per hour and popped into the center of the field when Tyler Gilbert of the Arizona Diamondbacks snatched it out of the air. Gilbert said it was one of the many balls the San Diego Padres burned on Saturday night, but it was the one that made him realize that something special might happen.
Gilbert entered the day as anonymous as any pitcher in the majors. He ended it with his own claim to baseball history.
In Padres’ 7-0 dismissal at Chase Field, Gilbert became the fourth bowler to shoot at his first career start and first since 1953. -Paddle, after Hall of Famer Randy Johnson (2004) and Edwin Jackson (2010).
“That was great,” Gilbert said. “Wonderful. And it was just one of those days. I don’t know, I don’t know. I know balls were getting hit, but they were hitting players. I was pitching. To be honest, it was kind of a rush the whole time.”
It’s hard to overstate the potential for performance. Throughout his career, Gilbert has never appeared on Baseball America’s Top 30 Predictors list. His fast ball barely scratches the low ’90s. He came to the Diamondbacks via a Byzantine route: Phase Triple-A of Draft Base 5, not exactly a Big Link shared route. With the minor league season canceled last year, he spent part of his summer in quarantine learning his father’s electric trade.
“That’s what baseball is all about,” Diamondbacks manager Tori Lovolo said. “As long as you have a uniform, as long as you make the right effort, anything is possible.”
And then there was the game itself. The evening felt like a kind of reflection on the squalid wealth the Diamondbacks have been carrying this season. Padres hit 10 balls at 95 mph or harder, including six at 100 mph or higher. All were converted to outs.
Gilbert said he first noticed his good fortune when Padres’ Adam Frazier pulverized a straight line at baseman Pavin Smith in the fourth inning, a ball that easily turned into a double play. The Hosmer liner came one later.
“It almost cut my head off,” Gilbert said. “When I found out about that, I was like, ‘Okay, these balls are getting hits, but there are people out there doing this play. “”
In a sense, the game ended in a proper fashion. With two exits in ninth, Padres’ Tommy Pham reached a midfield line that looked like he had a chance of falling. Instead, he was suspended long enough for Ketel Marte to catch the run.
“I thought it would go down, but it kind of bore a little bit,” Gilbert said. “I think he just rotated it back enough. I saw him hanging in the air and I said, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ It’s happening.’ that was awesome.”
Ten balls of 95 mph or more solid are the second-most in batting since baseball began tracking batting data in 2015. Chicago Cubs right-hander Alec Mills allowed 11 in a no-batting game in September 2020 .
In the sixth round selection of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2015, Gilbert slipped into the Phillies system before being sent to the Dodgers on a small deal in February 2020. After the Dodgers left him unprotected, the Diamondback family rolled the cast on him largely on the recommendation of the said Jason Parks, Professional Scout Manager, Scout Matt Hahn, who “really bombarded the table for him”, said.
“He’s seen him for several years at the Phillies organization,” Parks said. “He loved his control and his composure, and he believed he had the ability to make the most of his musical repertoire. There was some data that flagged him as well. It was a good organizing effort, from exploration to data to player development.”
Gilbert spent the first four months of the season at the alternate site and Triple-A Reno, working regularly as a first-time rookie since 2016. He was called up to the majors earlier this month to provide a new arm out for the Bullpen, and when the Diamondbacks needed a rotation On Saturday, Gilbert became the 15th different bowler to start a game for him this season.
Gilbert’s parents, Greg and Peggy, were among the group of friends and family in attendance who took center stage during the Bally Sports broadcast in Arizona. A year ago, when he wasn’t throwing bullfighting lessons for his high school trainer to stay sharp, Gilbert was working alongside his dad, making money and learning the electric trade.
“It really made me realize how much I was missing baseball, and I took my entire summer vacation,” Gilbert said. “I’d rather do it than pull the wires – no offense, Dad.”
Gilbert became the first bowler to hit his first career start since St. Louis Browns player Bobo Holloman on May 6, 1953. Theodore Brittenstein at the St. Louis Browns in 1891 and the Cincinnati Reds Bombus Jones in 1892.
His no-hitting team is also eighth in MLB this year, matching the 1884 record for most players in a single baseball season. The Padres kicked off a no-hitting frenzy in 2021 as Joe Musgrove scored the first single in franchise history. The other players not hitting this season have come from: Carlos Rodon of the White Sox. John Maines Orioles; Reds Wade Miley; Spencer Turnbull for Tigers; Corey Kluber Yankees; The no-hitter combined of cubs.
Gilbert said he chatted between roles with coach Mike Fitters in the dugout, skipping games for the next half-time before turning the conversations to non-baseball topics.
He said, “I was just trying to make things easy, to keep it quiet.”
He even surprised himself with his ability to control his emotions, saying that at one point he was amazed at how calm he was on the court.
“I wasn’t nervous at all and felt like I should have been,” he said. “I kept going out there and doing my business.”
As Lovullo was increasingly concerned about the number of pitches, Gilbert kept going out, and doing so efficiently. He needed just three pitches to score three in the eighth inning, with Padres putting every ball in play at 98 mph or more. Austin Nola flew shy of the wall in left field; Eric Hosmer hit a steep to short runway, with Nick Ahmed making the way before Smith made a low throw at the start; And Will Myers flew into the deep right midfield to finish the game.
Gilbert hit each of the top hitters of the ninth, froze Padres’ Trent Grisham on a breaker above the board, then had Ha-Seong Kim look at the border court.
“I used that all the time—inside, outside, up, away,” Gilbert said of his interrupter. “I was trying to use that from the contact fast ball. And it was working.”
Gilbert said he had already heard from the Baseball Hall of Fame, who had asked to display his glove, jersey, cleats and playing ball in Cooperstown, New York.
“Honestly, it hasn’t shocked me much yet,” Gilbert said. “It’s really cool. I can’t really describe it, I’m sorry.”
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