Just Dance, Dance, Dance: Alex Claudio does whatever he feels like he wants to do

It has been long enough by now that it’s okay to make Napoleon Dynamite references again. It’s retro now! Okay, okay. I know. The never-ending “Gosh!” quotes ruined it for you, me, and everyone else. But when I watch Alex Claudio pitch, I am sometimes reminded of one particular scene. For those of you who have seen it, the video below needs no explanation, but for those of you who refused to see the film, I’ll set the scene. Napoleon Dynamite is a painfully awkward (yet strangely confident?) high schooler who spends most of the movie inducing cringes from the viewing audience. To help his friend Pedro get elected to student council, he comes up with the horrible idea to perform a dance in front of his whole high school. Here’s what happens next: [WARNING, SPOILERS of a 14-year-old-movie AHEAD]

The comparison goes beyond the physical similarities. Yes, the rubber-limbed dance and Claudio’s wobble-wobble delivery are not dissimilar. But when the music cuts out and our hero runs off the stage, those who haven’t seen the movie are supposed to feel bad for him. “This poor kid,” you’re meant to think. “It’s a shame no one told him this was a bad ide–[STANDING OVATION FROM THE SCHOOL]

If you had never seen Alex Claudio pitch before, you might cringe when you saw a fastball that rarely tops 87mph. And you wouldn’t be alone. I texted a couple of scouts this week to ask them what they thought of Claudio when they saw him in the minor leagues.

“I thought he was a gimmick pitcher with a fun changeup,” one NL scout replied. “A guy without a Major-League future.”

Another, this one in the American League, had a similar assessment. “I didn’t think he had a chance of pitching in the major leagues. He was a three-year AZL guy. I’m not sure how many of those guys have played in the big leagues. He might be the only one.”

And yet, when baseball shoved a broomstick in the front spoke of Sam Dyson’s 2017 season, and Matt Bush lasted a couple of unsuccessful weeks in the role, [SPOILER ALERT] it was Alex Claudio who came on and locked down the closer’s role for the Rangers, locking down eleven saves in the final portion of the season, and doing so with the aforementioned fastball (technically a sinker) a 77mph slider, and a changeup that averages 71mph. As a result, Claudio was awarded tonight with the Rangers’ 2017 Pitcher of the Year award.

Dance, Dance, Dance; Standing ovation. 

It might seem like smoke and mirrors, but—while Claudio seemed to come from nowhere in 2017—he’s been doing it for awhile now, just under the radar (velocity joke only partially intentional). Here are the cold, hard facts: Alex Claudio has never finished a big league season with an ERA higher than 2.92. In fact, excluding the Arizona Summer or Puerto Rico Winter Leagues, he has only once accrued an ERA of above 3.00 at any level—and that was in 5 ⅓ innings at AAA in 2014, when he topped out at 3.38. While the scouts were trusting their eyes, Claudio was trusting himself. And that hasn’t changed.

I asked him if he’s planning to add anything this offseason. An extra pitch, something new to stay ahead? Nah. “Right now, my job is to pitch in one or two innings,” Claudio replied. “I don’t think that I need more pitches to work on. I don’t think I need anything else, because with the three pitches I have, I can get an inning. I can get three outs.

He does whatever he feels like he wants to do.

Gosh!