Brewers’ Martin Maldonado Hits the Cover Off the Ball. Really.

One of those timeless expressions in baseball referring to a good hitter is “he hits the cover off the ball”.  Milwaukee Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado did exactly that on April 18th.  The Brewers were playing the Pirates in Pittsburgh, and Maldonado stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth inning:

Maldonado isn’t too speedy on the base paths, but as Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez found out, it’s hard to throw a baseball that has its cover coming off.  Maldonado is Milwaukee’s backup catcher and was making only his third start of the season, but he made the most of his opportunity, going three for three and driving in a run in the Brewers’ 5-3 win.  We’d bet he’ll remember that hit in the sixth a lot longer than the other two.