Minor Leaguer Turned a Strikeout into a 'Home Run' Thanks to Being Really Fast

You don’t see this every day.

One of the stranger rules in baseball is the one that allows a batter to attempt to reach base safely after a third strike. It’s always funny to watch a batter realize that the catcher dropped the pitch and turn quickly to sprint to first, but rarely does the batter actually reach base on a strikeout. Guardians prospect Tyresse Turner did something on Wednesday that’s even more rare. 

In the third inning of the Lake County Captains’ game against the Lansing Lugnuts, Turner swung and missed at a pitch in the dirt. Lansing catcher Carlos Amaya couldn’t corral it and so Turner took off for first. That’s when things got weird. 

something you don’t see everyday ⤵️@TurnerTyresse with the little league homerun ???? pic.twitter.com/JrLdqv2FLR

— Lake County Captains (@LCCaptains) September 6, 2023

Amaya’s throw to first sailed over the head of the first baseman, and Turner was off to the races. By the time the Lansing defense retrieved the ball and fired it back to the plate, the speedy Turner was sliding home, having scored on a strikeout. 

Here’s the very funny description of the play in MiLB.com’s play-by-play: 

Tyresse Turner strikes out swinging. Tyresse Turner scores. Throwing error by catcher Carlos Amaya.

The term Little League homer gets thrown around a lot when a series of errors leads to a run, but scoring plays don’t get much more amateurish than that. It should have been a totally routine play. Turner wasn’t even running at full speed toward first because Amaya had plenty of time to make the play, and then Amaya airmailed the throw a good three feet over the head of his first baseman. Yikes.