{"id":425686,"date":"2026-08-06T19:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T19:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425686\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T19:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T19:36:16","slug":"mets-reliever-jefry-yan-goes-airborne-and-viral-during-mlb-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/425686\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets reliever Jefry Yan goes airborne (and viral) during MLB debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some say it\u2019s ridiculous<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some say it\u2019s refreshing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some say it\u2019s unprofessional<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some say it\u2019s all in good fun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing is certain \u2014 Mets relief pitcher Jefry Yan got everyone\u2019s attention with his high-flying, post-strikeout celebration during his MLB debut on Wednesday in Cleveland against the Guardians.<\/p>\n

Called up from triple-A Syracuse a day earlier, the 29-year-old Dominican left-hander took the mound to start the bottom of the sixth inning and faced Guardians pinch-hitter \u00c1ngel Mart\u00ednez. Five pitches into the at-bat, Yan caught the hitter looking on an 88.7-mph slider for a called third strike.<\/p>\n

Then came the celebration. Yan jumped up \u2014 way up \u2014 into the air, contorting his legs into somewhat of a split. He landed in a crouch position and slapped the ground before popping up, standing still with his hands up for a fraction of a second, then walking back up the mound with a bit of a leg slide to commemorate his first Major League strikeout.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I had him with two strikes I said, you know what, I\u2019m going to throw that slider,\u201d Yan said through an interpreter after the Mets\u2019 6-5 victory in 10 innings. \u201cAnd if I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I celebrated accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several batters later, however, Yan commemorated his second major league strikeout similarly. Yan had given up two singles and a walk to load the bases before getting Cleveland designated hitter Chase DeLauter on a 90-mph slider for strike three and the second out of the inning.<\/p>\n

Once again, Yan did the whole jumping, landing, ground-slapping thing (no slide this time though). Later in the game, Cleveland\u2019s Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez<\/a> was seen in the dugout apparently imitating Yan\u2019s airborne style of rejoicing.<\/p>\n

While most MLB fans might be seeing Yan\u2019s post-strikeout air show for the first time, the celebrations have actually become a signature move for the player during his long, unconventional journey to the majors. <\/p>\n

After initially signing with the Angels<\/a> organization as a teenage international free agent in 2013, Yan eventually spent several years out of affiliated baseball, playing for semipro and amateur teams<\/a> while also working odd jobs. <\/p>\n

He was signed by the Miami Marlins organization in 2021, followed by the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball and the Colorado Rockies organization before the Mets last August.<\/p>\n

Yan has other methods of celebrating during games as well. On Wednesday, after Guardians right fielder Jo Adell<\/a> \u2014 playing his second game for Cleveland after being traded by the Angels<\/a> earlier in the week \u2014 grounded into a fielder\u2019s choice at shortstop to end the inning, Yan did a low slide move and slapped his chest, then smacked his glove emphatically several times and blew a kiss toward the sky while leaving the field.<\/p>\n

Cleveland fans expressed their displeasure<\/a>, but Yan wasn\u2019t bothered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they want to yell at me, if they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want,\u201d Yan said. \u201cI\u2019m in my zone. And yeah, I\u2019m going to enjoy my game any way that I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yan gave up two hits and no runs with two strikeouts and one walk in one inning pitched. Five of his pitches, all sliders, reached triple digits on the speed gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s real stuff. It\u2019s really impressive,\u201d Mets interim manager Andy Green said. \u201cTo get out of a bases-loaded jam, get your first punchout, just excited for him. He deserves that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some say it\u2019s ridiculous. Some say it\u2019s refreshing. Some say it\u2019s unprofessional. Some say it\u2019s all in good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[169702,13507,423,98440,48,52,51,47,50,49,136474,21949,169701,4113,86029,4610,24646,315,687,316,169700],"class_list":["post-425686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-angels-organization","tag-cleveland","tag-game","tag-guardians","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mlb-debut","tag-pitch","tag-post-strikeout-celebration","tag-sixth-inning","tag-slider","tag-thing","tag-third-strike","tag-time","tag-walk","tag-wednesday","tag-yan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}