A few years ago, Angels star outfielder Mike Trout made an iconic, homer-robbing catch in the outfield, and it’s never not fun to watch. To this day, it remains one of the best homer-robbing catches you’ll ever see:
Covering good distance on an opposite-field shot by an Orioles infielder in the bottom of the first, headed for the wall in right center, timing the jump perfectly, catching the ball at at the peak of the jump, while slamming into the Southwest logo on the wall and holding onto the ball.
Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier did the exact same thing last night – literally everything I typed there is exactly the same – and I’m trying to decide if his catch was even better:
It looks to me like the ball Trout got to was a little tougher to track down, but Kiermaier’s was harder to catch (because it was going to be further over the wall). Athleticism was slightly more important on Trout’s, while timing was slightly more important on Kiermaier’s.
I’ve watched these a bunch of times, and I think Trout’s is probably the “prettier” catch, but Kiermaier’s might’ve been just as difficult and impressive.