Amazin' at-bat: Mets' Guillorme draws 22-pitch walk vs Hicks

This easily could be the most amazin' at-bat of the entire season.

Yep, in a spring training game.

With his New York Mets teammates cheering, dancing and going crazy in the dugout, Luis Guillorme stood at the plate for more than 10 minutes against rocket-armed St. Louis reliever Jordan Hicks, eventually drawing a 22-pitch walk Sunday.

“It’s pretty cool,” Guillorme said.

Guillorme took a called strike on the first pitch, then swung and missed at the second. Quickly down 0-2, the backup infielder wound up hitting 16 foul balls -- nine in a row with a full count.

Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto and the rest of the Mets got more and more animated with every curve, changeup and fastball, including a half-dozen at 100 mph. Finally, Guillorme took a slider down and in for ball four and trotted to first base as the shouts and hollers erupted.

“It was definitely a good battle,” Hicks said.

Since Major League Baseball officially began keeping track in 1988, the longest at-bat in a regular-season game was a 21-pitch duel between San Francisco’s Brandon Belt and Angels rookie Jaime Barria that finished with a flyout.

What timing, too.

Hicks had just entered in the bottom of the fifth inning and Guillorme was the very first major league batter the right-hander had faced since June 2019. Hicks underwent Tommy John surgery shortly after that and opted out of the 2020 season because of coronavirus concerns, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in high school.

“It was probably the last thing I thought was going to happen, to be honest, because it’s never happened before,” Hicks told St. Louis media. “I don’t even think I’ve had a 13 pitch at-bat in my career.”

Hicks was scheduled to pitch one inning. But after the long matchup, he was pulled. Cardinals...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Amazin-at-bat-Mets-Guillorme-draws-22-pitch-16025421.php