If Saturday’s (March 13) spring training matchup between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals had been a regular season game, Mets shortstop Luis Guillorme would have set a record in Major League Baseball.
Guillorme, who was born in Venezuela, took 22 pitches from Cardinals’ righty Jordan Hicks during the fifth inning to earn a walk to first base. According to CBS Sports, the longest at-bat appearance in MLB history during a regular season game was 21 pitches in 2018.
“It’s pretty cool,” Guillorme told ESPN. “I’m just happy I ended up with the walk because if I would’ve gotten out that would’ve been not fun for me. All that work for nothing. But, you know, it’s pretty cool.”
During the consecutive at-bats, Guillorme hit 16 foul balls. At one point, he hit the ball off the bat nine straight times. He also saw 10 pitches that crossed the plate at 99 mph or faster. His teammates in the dugout seemed to be enjoying the long sequence, which lasted “11 minutes and 40 seconds in real time,” according to the Talkin’ Baseball podcast.
Former infielder Nick Green called the occurrence “the greatest Spring Training at bat ever.”
FOX Sports MLB analyst Ben Verlander posted a chart that mapped out all Hicks’ pitches to Guillorme.
As impressive as the walk was on Saturday, some baseball fans were still more impressed with another feat Guillorme had at spring training back in 2017.