Lindbergh: Welcome to the golden age of the home run robbery

From SABR member Ben Lindbergh at The Ringer on May 14, 2019:

On May 8 in Baltimore, Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. made the kind of catch that keeps a player in the lineup even when he’s spent the season sabotaging his team at the plate.

A spring game against the Orioles isn’t a formula for high drama, and many of the 12,451 fans officially in attendance for the game had departed by the time Bradley made the grab, which came at Trey Mancini’s expense. But the catch hardly could have been better—an 11th-inning, game-extending snag in which Bradley seemed to skip several frames, propelling himself off a Southwest sign with one cleat to gain extra altitude, then spinning to face the expectant Baltimore bullpen as he caught the ball with his whole upper body hanging over the fence, extended like a swimmer trying to touch the wall. In the top of the 12th, Andrew Benintendi launched a ball that no Orioles outfielder brought back, and the Sox hung on to take a 2-1 victory.

Read the full article here: https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/5/14/18622930/home-run-robbery-saving-catch-jackie-bradley-jr



Originally published: May 16, 2019. Last Updated: May 16, 2019.