Mets’ Jefry Yan has the perfect reaction to 1st MLB strikeout

Jefry Yan waited a long time for this moment, and he made sure to enjoy every second of it. The Mets reliever recorded the first strikeout of his major league career Wednesday night against the Cleveland Guardians, freezing pinch hitter Angel Martinez on an 88.7 mph slider in the sixth inning of New York’s eventual 6-5 win.

Asked afterward to grade the execution of his signature celebration, Yan did not hold back.

“I went out there to attack him. Once I had him at two strikes, I said, you know what, I’m going to throw that slider,” Yan said. “And if I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I celebrated accordingly.”

"If I freeze him, which is exactly what I did, I celebrated accordingly."

Jefry Yan was asked to rate the execution of his first MLB strikeout celebration: pic.twitter.com/zKG2ihwLKY

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) August 6, 2026

The celebration itself lived up to the hype that had followed Yan for years. He leaped high into the air with his feet spread apart, landed on the front of the mound, slapped the grass with his left hand, and briefly dropped to a knee before rising with both arms raised overhead. Cleveland fans booed him off the mound, a reaction Yan said did not bother him in the slightest.

“Honestly, I don’t think about that,” Yan said. “They can do whatever they want there. They’re paying their tickets, so if they want to yell at me, if they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want. I’m in my zone, and I’m going to enjoy my game any way that I want to.”

Yan’s path to this moment took over a decade. Originally signed by the Los Angeles Angels out of the Dominican Republic in 2014, he spent years bouncing around the minors, including a stretch working as a roofer in Arizona to make ends meet, before a stint in Japan and later Colorado’s system.

He signed a minor league deal with the Mets last August and was called up from Triple-A Syracuse on Monday, finally debuting at age 29 with the same electric celebration that had already made him a viral sensation in spring training.

Interim manager Andy Green praised the moment for what it represented beyond just the strikeout itself.

“It’s real stuff. It’s really impressive. To get out of a bases-loaded jam, get your first punchout, just excited for him. He deserves that,” Green said.

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