The Texas Rangers are on pace for one of the organization's worst-ever seasons. That doesn't stop the players from playing hard. Notice I said playing hard and not throwing hard. They are doing the opposite of that.

Brock Holt, a 3rd baseman standing in the way of Josh Jung's major league call-up, entered to pitch against the Oakland Athletic's this weekend, and his first pitch registered 31.1 miles per hour. The average speed of a fastball in the MLB last season was 93.7 mph. The average speed of a curveball is 77 mph.

Brock Holt's offering was 31.1.

Before Holt's record-smashing eephus pitch, the slowest recorded throw was 41.3 mph earlier this season. They've tracked every pitch since 2008 according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

Not only did Holt throw the slowest strike ever recorded, he threw the six slowest pitches recorded this season. Holt only needed to throw to three batters to complete his inning getting weak contact from Josh Harrison, allowing a single to Matt Chapman who was thrown out trying to stretch it to second, then he inducing a flyout from Tony Kemp.

Holt mixed in some speed as well, a 77 mph fastball. Here's an overlay of his eephus and fastball.

Holt pitched so well he thought the umpire might want to check his glove for foreign substances.

The Texas Rangers are 39 and 72, well on their way to 100 losses with 51 games remaining in the schedule. The Rangers will need to win 24 of their final 51 games to avoid 100 losses. A feat only achieved by two Texas Rangers teams and not since 1973 when the team lost 105 games.

Josh Jung and the Frisco RoughRiders play in Amarillo at HODGETOWN

 

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