Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow’s interesting method to motivate himself
Jeff Passan of ESPN shared some interesting, funny, weird news regarding the Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and he just became one of my favorite baseball players in the league.
I’ve been saving this anecdote for a story, but screw it. Too good to squirrel away.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2020
Someone suggested Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow try to get angry before starts. To do this, he would look at pictures of one person. He pulled out his phone and showed me.
It was Martin Shkreli. pic.twitter.com/TJHpgp1iTE
According to Passan, Glasnow used to look at a picture of Martin Shkreli prior to his starts to help him get angry. I can’t remember the last time I had such a good laugh about an MLB player. It is funnier than it should be because Tyler Glasnow seems like such a friendly and unharmful guy. It is hard to imagine.
Who is Martin Shkreli?
First things first, Shkreli has been described as “one of the most hated men in America” by The Big Lead. That should be enough of an introduction. I will be honest, I had no idea who he was until reading Passan’s tweet. But now I want to save a photo of Shkreli on my phone just like Tyler Glasnow. C’mon, just look at his smirk in the picture above.
Shkreli’s name circulated the news in 2015 when his pharmaceutical company purchased Daraprim, an anti-malarial and anti-parasitic drug. And as you may know “Big Pharma” draws a lot of controversy over monopolization through intellectual property laws. Shkreli was one of those problems.
The drug used to cost $13.50 per pill, but he jacked up the price to $750 per pill overnight. At the time, no generic drug existed, so there were no cheaper options. He was questioned before Congress and did not answer any questions. Apparently, he smirked the entire time, which made him such a hated person.
Shkreli is also known for attacking people on social media and heavily criticizing Hillary Clinton. Overall, it seems like the perfect example of a complete a-hole. I wouldn’t be surprised if Glasnow has a punching bag with Shkreli’s face on it.
Jeff Passan did not specify when Glasnow used this method to fire himself up, and has moved on from this routine. But, I wonder if he was doing this during the 2019 season when he was absolutely dominant.
Glasnow’s numbers are not as good as you may think, despite his electric repertoire. The Tampa Bay Rays are going to need the 27-year-old to be more consistent and pitch as he did in 2019 if they want to make another World Series appearance.
Maybe Tyler Glasnow needs to redownload a photo of Martin Shkreli? Or will he find a new photo to fire him up? Maybe the Rays should post a picture on the big screen? How about Aubrey Huff?