For Miami Marlins relief pitcher Carter Capps, a perfect inning was just a hop, skip and jump away.
Capps got called up from the minor leagues to make his season debut for the Marlins on Monday night, retiring all three batters he faced in one inning of action.
But it's how Capps retired those batters -- using a delivery best described as super freaking weird -- that drew attention, befuddlement and laughs across the web.
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Capps' windup starts off looking normal enough. But then things get weird. He tucks the ball behind his butt. He steps forward off the rubber. He kind of skids down the dirt mound. He fires the ball toward home plate. Behold:
legal pitch or nah? pic.twitter.com/sdNI4dXrky— nick pants (@nick_pants) April 14, 2015
Here's a reverse angle:
lol pic.twitter.com/mxSOdNGQbk— nick pants (@nick_pants) April 14, 2015
So...yeah. That's weird.
It's also legal, apparently.
Capps told MLB.com that MLB told him (insert "time is a flat circle" reference, here) that his oddball technique is on the up and up.
"They just said they wanted me to make sure I dragged my foot and not get too elevated in the air, and make sure it's more on a lateral plane," he said. "As long as I do that, they have no problem with it."
Well, OK then! It seems jumping forward is OK, while jumping up would not be kosher.
Capps isn't the first to employ such an odd delivery, although his seems to have caused more buzz than a previous pitcher with a similar style. For a more detailed exploration of the history and legality behind Capps' strange technique, check out FanGraphs.
But for now, we'll just say: Stay weird, Carter Capps. Stay weird.