A routine backswing hit in St. Louis
has turned into a fan-led investigation, with many questioning if a Cardinals
catcher took a dive. Believe in the eagle-eyed baseball fans to notice on-field details that even the umpires often fail to see.
The Cardinals swept the Astros
on Sunday, and fans hoped to take a dig at Houston
as they are now on a 4-game losing streak. The Astros took the hit, but the Cardinals were also not spared as fans questioned the on-field antics after their catcher took an accidental hit off an Astros slugger.
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It's not common in MLB to get questioned after taking a hit, but Sunday was different.
" Taylor Trammell
nailed the catcher in the head with his backswing and didn't realize he hit the ball fair. He ended up with a triple," Jomboy Media shared via X.
In the third inning, Trammell was at the batter's box with the score tied at zero. He hit a flyer off the Cardinals' Matthew Liberatore
that went along the foul line to the right-field corner. However, his strong back swing struck the catcher, Pedro Pages, at his side.
Pages fell off from the impact, and while the ball struck the fence, Trammell took time to launch.
He was checking the catcher as the home plate umpire was helping Pages, which caused Trammell's running delay.
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Although still covered at third base, a timely launch could help the Astros score an in-the-park home run. The Cardinals' catcher was seen getting attended to by an athletic trainer and remained in the game.
Now, while it seems a routine day in baseball, fans question the true intensity of the hit on Pages' mask.
The replay shows Trammell's bat struck the side of Pages' helmet, and although the hit looked like nothing major, the Cardinals catcher still lost his balance. And as the home plate umpire was getting him up, he was looking at a fly-ball.
The fans' question is whether the impact was actually that high, or if it was made up to slow down the 28-year-old's baserunning.
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The Cardinals have a scary history of their catchers getting hit by back-swing.
In 2024, Willson Contreras
suffered a fractured left arm after being struck by J.D. Martinez
's backswing during a game against the Mets
. The impact caused immediate numbness and sidelined him for several weeks. No questions were raised that time, but Sunday was different.
The Astros scored the first run, riding on Trammell's triple, but they still went down against the Cardinals by 5-7.
The Cardinals swept, the Astros extended their losing streak, but for fans, they found a hint of soccer-style antics.
Fans question the Cardinals' catcher
Was the back-swing so hard in reality? Fans wonder. "Bro, he barely touched him, catcher played that up for sure," one fan noted.
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MLB bat speeds average roughly 71–72 mph, with fast swings defined as 75 mph or higher. The backswings would still be brutal enough to have a major impact. Contreras was the best example of how brutal it could be. However, the footage from Sunday showed a bare touch of the tip of Trammell's bat to the side of Pages' mask.
"Barely tapped the gear, I'm sure he's just fine. Lying on the ground as he got pummeled with no mask on," another added. The impact could still have been high had there been no headgear for the Cardinals' catcher. But it is also true that impact cannot be evaluated from a distance. Remember Justin Verlander
's elbow injury back in 2020!
Initially, it seemed like a forearm strain, but it was later revealed to be a torn ulnar collateral ligament. While Sunday's contact looked minimal, even a fraction of the force from an average 72-mph swing can be disorienting, especially to the head.
"Dude needs to start playing soccer…," one user remarked. Faking on-field injury and theatrics are common in soccer. Those are done on purpose to slow down the momentum. For instance, Brazilian footballer Neymar is known for his exaggerated reaction to tackles. Here, fans think, the Cardinals catcher tried the same to slow down Trammell's baserunning.
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"Oh, that catcher deserves an award for dramatic," another agreed.
"Inside the park HR if he books it soon as he hit lmao," one fan wrote. Had Trammell not checked at the Cardinals catcher after his hit, he could have completed a home plate run instead of a triple. Especially because of his 23.8 ft/sec sprint speed (RotoWire). He has demonstrated elite speed, with recent data highlighting him in the 98th percentile of hitters. Prior to 2024, it was 43rd.
Fans seem certain that the theatrics were done to avoid a run. The Astros still scored in the third, but it was the Cardinals who had the last laugh. While Houston is still last in their league standings (8-15 AL West), St. Louis is placed second (13-8 NL Central).
