In most cases, you don’t actually have to squeeze the gloves when you catch the ball. At least, you don’t have to think about squeezing it. It’s an instinct thing, and although you’re a catcher, it’s different, but the whole point of gloves is to thrill baseball. It is designed for this. The ball tends to stick there.
Most of the time. Sometimes, though, you do have to consider squeezing the ball. Sometimes geometric shapes are involved. I like geometry.
I like thinking angles. How do I position myself so that I can grab this throw and apply the tag in an action? Should I wait for this ball, or should I circle it around so that I can charge it and put it on a short jump? When did I give up picking this throw and then take a step back and grab it with a long jump?
Great performance in the outfield is almost entirely about getting into the ball. As the exit proved over and over again, an outfielder with high speed and high jump could arrive early enough that even the most spectacular races would look routine. Here is Pete Crow-Armstrong, making the five-star drama look like a walk in a park:
You will never doubt that the ball has only 5% chance of capturing. This is Nick Castellanos on a ball with a 90% chance of catching the ball:
In the most skeptical words, when did the outfielders tell us the diving obstacles are their inability to get there in time to catch it. But while this isn’t the most valuable skill an outfielder can have, the last mile question remains a big part of the game. Finding a way to fix the ball while throwing the body away after the baseball and getting into Harm is its own art form that you can’t beat the angle. Today, we will look at two impossible captures, not because of the distance traveled or hanging, but because of the AP-grade geometry required to wear the ball in a glove.
We will start with a drama performed by Michael Harris II last week. This is by no means his best game. It has an 85% chance of capturing, which makes it a two-star game. But this is probably his best pure gain:
Although Harris is a great midfielder, his jump here is terrible. It’s understandable; the ball hit him directly, and it’s fun from the end of the bat, so he has to freeze for a second. But once he left, he really left. His charges are very difficult because he doesn’t have time to spare, so it’s not a very beautiful harvest. He didn’t jump straight on the ball. He just needs to descend and stand out in some way because he doesn’t have time to cut his footsteps and time perfectly. He had to grab the ball and then grab himself with his glove hand to break the fall. That’s what makes the capture so amazing. He seemed to be hitting his glove directly into the ground as the ball reached. There is only one nanosecond window and the ball even has an angle to enter the pocket.
It’s a fantasy when I’m going to show you the next angle. Harris did secure the ball before slamming the glove into the turf and then rotated it outwards to make sure there is leather above and below the ball. But he was doing it all in an action, and the timing was perfect. If you focus on Harris’ knees, that’s even more impressive. It is tearing a huge divorcee because he actually hit the ground forward He grabbed his whole body. Looking at his eyes closed, the hat sticking out of the impacting head. Just keep it stable enough to make this game spectacular. He managed to stick with it when he hit the ball hard on the grass so hard that a few bounces would create another difficulty. Finally, we have to grant additional credit, as Harris tucked it into his glove’s defensive positioning card as always:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrhtcn0n0_i
It’s its own skill, besides getting huge jumps, taking a great route or being very high. This is a different kind of dynamical wisdom, perhaps less valuable, but richer in purely artistic. Even at the major league level, not everyone can do this. I’m sure a lot of players can jump on that ball better. Maybe Harris himself jumps better most of the time. But it’s hard to beat that catch.
Cedric Mullins captured this one a month ago and I’ve been watching since:
STATCAST makes the probability of this drama 80%, you can understand why. Mullins will never reach the top speed. After a step towards the ball, this is where he is. It’s another two-star rating, and there’s nothing to sneeze, but Pete Crow-Armstrong might make it look much easier.
Mullins used to be a great defensive midfielder but he is now 30 years old, and the numbers say he is slowing down. Despite this, although he was not as fast as before, he had not read the art of impossible capture. The official highlights don’t have the angles I like, so I have to do screen recording from the original broadcast:
That’s why I watch the show over and over again. I just don’t know how Mullins managed to put this ball in the glove. Let me show you again, even slower, enlarge the gloves:
The angle here is shocking. Mullins couldn’t grab it into his pocket. He doesn’t have time to adjust. Instead, the gloves tilt slightly downward. Only the little finger is parallel to the ground, and this is where the ball hits. Because it’s a big floppy outfielder glove, the whole thing bent toward the ground when the ball falls into it. However, Mullins somehow coaxed the vertical ball into his pocket and rolled. It’s the design. If he keeps his gloves too stiff, the ball may bounce back. So he uses fluff as a shock absorber. By tilting the ball downward, he couldn’t use gravity to keep it inside. Instead, he had to roll with his fist, straighten his gloves and hit the gravity as he squeezed the ball. Oh, he does all this in the air, and when he sensation the earth, he has to keep ownership. It might be a two-star drama, but the capture itself deserves its own galaxy.
