We as a species have grown far too miserable to the point where, as expected, there was considerable pearl-clutching from those watching Jefry Yan’s major league debut on Wednesday night with the New York Mets. Perhaps those curmudgeons are just so unhappy with how things turned out for themselves that they have to berate the 29-year-old left-hander because he is playing a game with joy.
Yan was his usual, passionate self when he finally reached a big-league mound at Progressive Field in Cleveland in the bottom of the sixth inning, and with the Mets nursing a 4-3 lead. After getting ahead of Angel Martinez with the first 100-plus-mph pitches recorded by a New York pitcher this season, Yan buckled the Cleveland lefty with a slider for his first career strikeout.
What followed was his trademark celebration, which has drawn chuckles and ire across every level of the minors over parts of the last decade. Yan leaped in the air, spreading his legs wide before dropping to a knee and slapping the mound with his left hand. He then raised both of his hands and, with a slide step, returned to the rubber.
“Once I had him at two strikes, I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to throw that slider,” Yan said through an interpreter. “And if I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I’m going to celebrate accordingly.”
Yan’s journey alone is certainly worth such celebrations. He was out of baseball for five years after blowing out his elbow, and during that hiatus, he worked a number of odd jobs down in Arizona, from delivery driver to landscaper to roofer. His return to the game started in a semi-pro league, playing for a team called the Expendables.
So you’ll have to excuse him if the boos from Guardians fans at Progressive Field, or the mocking leaps from the likes of Rhys Hoskins, don’t concern him. Hoskins, of all people, should sit this one out, considering his schtick of being a Mets agitator during his days with the Phillies and Brewers has grown tiresome — especially when he is batting .177 this season.
“Honestly, I don’t think about that,” Yan said. “They can do whatever they want there. They’re paying their tickets, so if they want to yell at me, they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want. I’m in my zone, and I’m going to enjoy my game any way that I want to.”
Maybe Yan will be the man to help eliminate baseball’s double standard. Players can style and bat-flip after home runs all they want nowadays with zero repercussions. Why can’t pitchers celebrate strikeouts?
To flip the pro-offensive fans’ rhetoric: if you don’t want Yan celebrating, don’t strike out.
It’s a game, after all. Let’s keep having fun with it.
For more on Jefry Yan and the Mets, visit AMNY.com
