When I was coaching Little League baseball, the fouled-off third strike by the opposing team was cruel and unusual punishment for my psyche. It was hard enough to get a 10-year to throw three strikes, but now they had to throw another to get through the opposing at bat.

Sometimes, they had to throw strike five. Or (insert shocked-faced emoji here) even more.

Jamie Barria of the Angels had to throw strike 18 Sunday against Brandon Belt.

The San Francisco first baseman is getting a lot of credit for his 21-pitch at bat Sunday, as well he should. It’s a “record” if you believe that baseball didn’t start until 1988. Nobody cared about pitch counts before the late 1980s, so there’s really no telling if it really is.

Belt fouled off 16 two-strike pitches during his 12-minute at bat — both of those facts are amazing — before lining out to right field. but don’t forget about Barria. And it wasn’t like Belt was fouling off pitches that were out of the strike zone. The pitch chart I saw showed 18 pitches in the zone, plus the three called balls.

I know it was the first inning of an April game, so it wasn’t like Barria was pitching the Game 7 of the World Series. But that is getting it done. Naturally, his elevated pitch total had him out of there by the third inning.

I think I had entire games when my Little Leaguers didn’t throw 18 strikes, much less in one at bat.

Good from Brandon Belt … that’s impressive, no matter what kind of record it is or isn’t. But don’t forget about my man Jamie Barria (who I had never heard of before Sunday.)