Usually, when a fielder needs to dive for a fly ball, they’ve already run a very long way to get there. Had they not, there wouldn’t be a need to dive.
Follow me?
Well, despite the bulletproof logic above, Brewers third baseman Aaron Hill challenged that assertion in an unusual, but impressive diving play on a sky high fly ball … in the infield. Watch:
The Cardinal batter, Stephen Piscotty, sent the ball a mile high on a particularly sunny day. So, as Hill was tracking that ball the way he learned in little league – use your mitt to block the sun! – he wound up a few feet away and had to make a crazy last minute adjustment to get to that ball.
I actually think that was exceedingly challenging and impressive, despite the initial reaction of calling it a misplay. That was a nice, unusual catch right there.