The Greenville Drive, the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, had quite an eventful weekend of viral moments.
On April 18, their postgame fireworks show went off in the ninth inning with one out left in the game. The goof resulted in cheers from the crowd and laughs from the players on the field. But that wasn’t the team’s wildest moment of the weekend.
Twenty-one-year-old third base prospect Andy Lugo came to the plate in the 12th inning of a 9-9 bout against High-A Winston Salem on April 19. He laced a 425-foot single to dead center field to score the runner on third base. As he jogged to first base. He loosed the most comically high bat flip of all time to seal the victory in dramatic fashion.
As Greenville’s high home plate camera zoomed into center field to track Lugo’s single, his bat spiraled into view. The ball may have hit the ground and bounced over the outfield fence before his bat clattered back to earth.
Red Sox infield prospect Andy Lugo’s massive bat flip went viral on social media — and bothered some sticks in the mud
Lugo has been the subject of some criticism for the sheer emphasis he put on his bat flip to end all bat flips. Twitter commenters critiqued him for such an extreme celebration in a minor league game during the regular season, and even said bat flips should be discouraged as a workplace hazard so little leaguers don’t emulate the behavior.
But Greenville was losing that game 7-0 at one point, and Lugo cracked his first homer of the season to tie the game at seven in the eighth inning. He flew around the bases after the blast and donned the Drive’s mascot head in celebration when he returned to the dugout. Going from being shut out and losing by seven runs to a win in the 12th inning warrants the emotion Lugo gave it.
Baseball is a game and it’s supposed to be fun. Most minor league players in High-A are in their early 20s and maybe even younger — they should be allowed to get excited about their accomplishments en route to becoming a major leaguer.
Lugo’s bat flip may be the highest many baseball fans have seen, and it went viral on MLB Twitter. It will be interesting to see if any big leaguers or other players replicate his towering toss — maybe he’ll start a walk-off trend that has the longevity of the water cooler or Gatorade shower.
