Sometimes, a bit of genius can go a long way. As two Kansas high schools faced off in a baseball game on Thursday, pitcher Hunter Hasseltine unveiled a brilliant fake-out play that completely fooled the runner on second base.
In a pre-planned bit of deception, the pitcher imitated a pickoff throw to second, and though he didn’t actually throw the ball, the entire team reacted as if an errant throw had sailed into the outfield:
You can see the runner scan the outfield for the ball, which, of course, wasn’t actually out there, but he took off for third base anyway because that’s only sensible. It must’ve been a real bummer for him when the pitcher ran up and tagged him out, but for the rest of us, it’s hilarious.
This has to be a rehearsed play, which is remarkable, because under what circumstances is a team preparing to use this play? While it worked once, it’s obviously a gimmick with a short shelf-life that ends as soon as opposing teams see it once. (With that said, if you get the same team twice with this play, oh man.)
If anything, that makes this play even cooler. It’s such a weird, impractical, awesome play. Let’s get it in the MLB already -- even if just once.
