In January we mentioned a new show from Fox called “Pitch.” It’s a drama about the first woman major leaguer. Yesterday a trailer for “Pitch” debuted and the plot becomes way more clear.
The main character, a pitcher, plays for the Padres. She made the bigs after what seems like some intense coaching from her father, who taught her to throw a screwball, which people in the trailer refer to as a “trick pitch,” as if Hector Santiago doesn’t exist, but we’ll let that one go.
You can tell that there will be the obvious dramatic tension you’d expect from this kind of thing. Storylines about whether what she’s doing is for herself or to please her dad. Jealousy and acrimony from teammates. Early nerves and a case of the yips. No doubt at least one teammate with a heart of gold who gets the rest of the team in line (I’m guessing the David Ross-esque catcher in the trailer). A LOT of exposition from media members playing themselves. You know the drill.
Hard to say if it’ll be a good show or a bad show. At first I thought that there was one GLARING issue: Petco Park was being shown with throngs of excited fans, and that’s simply fantastical. Then I realized that the Dodgers were the opposition in that game and it was immediately far more realistic. Also: I give Dan Lauria, who plays the Padres’ skipper, a preliminary 24 on my Most Handsome Managers list. He earned at least that much based on “Wonder Years” goodwill.
Beyond that: could be good. I dunno. I’ll give it a chance.
