Some pitchers rake, but Jeff Samardzija breaks his bat

When a baseball player breaks a bat over their knee after striking out, it’s usually a position player. Maybe he’s in a slump, or he missed his pitch, and he’s taking his anger out on the bat. But on Tuesday night, San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija demonstrated that even pitchers get angry when they strike out.

In the top of eighth inning of the Giants’ game against the Cincinnati Reds, Samardzija came to bat with two outs and two runners on. The Giants were up 3-1, thanks to a single from Gregor Blanco just one batter earlier, but another single could have scored a welcome insurance run to give them a little breathing room.

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Samardzija swung and missed at the first offering from Reds pitcher Caleb Cotham, and he fouled off the second one just beyond the right field line. On the 0-2 pitch, Samardzija swung right through it, ending the inning and the scoring opportunity. He wasn’t happy, and he broke the bat in one graceful (or gracefully angry) motion: he swung, missed, gripped the fat end of the bat with his other hand, and jerked it over his knee, splintering it with just one try.

Even though he struck out, Samardzija didn’t have much else to be angry about. He pitched eight strong innings for the Giants, allowing just three hits and one run, and he struck out nine batters himself.

Despite his recent success at the plate (excluding Tuesday’s angry strikeout), Samardzija’s never been known as one of the pitchers who rake. In his six and a half years with the Chicago Cubs, his batting average was .125. Now that one of his teammates is Madison Bumgarner, who’s had batting averages over .240 the past two seasons, maybe he can give Samardzija a few pointers.

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