A homer, a handshake? Halpin chooses to slap coach instead
CLEVELAND — We’ve seen many ways a player can celebrate hitting a home run. High-fives and handshakes are a staple. Props have grown increasingly popular in dugouts across the Majors, waiting for their moment of glory after a ball goes over the fence.
Petey Halpin went with a bit of an uncharted option after he hit his first career long ball in the second inning of the Guardians’ 13-4 win over the Twins on Monday. When the 23-year-old got back to the dugout, he slapped Cleveland hitting coach Grant Fink across the left cheek.
Allow Halpin to explain.
He made clear the moment (as unorthodox as it was) was all in good fun between him and Fink, with whom he has a close relationship.
“It was a built-up thing,” Halpin said at his locker Tuesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
“[Fink] said, ‘It felt like I got hit by a feather,’” Halpin added. “It was all good fun.”
Halpin and Fink work together throughout the offseason at the Guardians’ complex in Arizona. They’ve grown close through all the time they’ve spent together, and the two have a hype-up routine they conduct before each game that involves Fink slapping Halpin on the cheek.
Halpin made his big league debut on Sept. 20 last season, and he’s appeared in 35 games this year across three big league stints. Months ago, the two reached an agreement that once Halpin hit his first career long ball, he’d slap Fink as a good-natured way to revel in a hyped-up moment.
“[Fink] was like, ‘Yeah, if it’s a perfect storm, if we’re winning, if it’s a good moment,’” Halpin recalled. “He’s like, ‘You’ll know, and I’ll know. … I’ll be ready for it.’”
No kidding. In the second inning Monday, Halpin hit a 1-1 splitter from Minnesota’s Joe Ryan a Statcast-projected 411 feet over the right-center-field wall at Progressive Field. As he rounded the bases, Halpin saw Fink turn his cap around. When Halpin got back to the dugout, it was go time.
“I like Fink. I have a great relationship with Fink,” Halpin said. “I’ve worked with him a bunch in the offseason, living in Arizona. I’ve spent a lot of time with him; he spent a lot of time with me. I feel like it fits into our relationship. It was funny.”
“… I think it’s just part of the relationship and what the team’s got going on. It’s like, we’re all one, and we’re just trying to have fun, but win games.”
Cleveland hit seven home runs on Monday, tying a franchise record at home. It was a fun night, indeed, and Fink came out of it unscathed, by the sound of it.