Houston Astros pitching prospect Lance McCullers made his MLB debut in style on Monday night, breaking out his Batman cleats against the Oakland A's.

Houston Astros pitching prospect Lance McCullers made his MLB debut in style on Monday night, breaking out his Batman cleats against the Oakland A's.

McCullers, Houston's No. 10 prospect according to MLB.com, allowed one run and three hits in 4 2/3 innings.

McCullers is not the only MLB pitcher with an affinity for the Caped Crusader. Mets ace Matt Harvey was dubbed "The Dark Knight" on a Sports Illustrated cover during his All-Star 2013 season and has the nicknamed engraved on his bats.

A Google search doesn't reveal any earlier evidence of McCullers's Batman fandom. The only previous Batman reference is this tweet:

• Ichiro gave new Dan Jennings's uniform a front-office flair

Whatever the case, his Batman spikes are pretty sweet.

- Dan Gartland