NEWSLETTER
When comparing two defensive plays, there’s a tendency in fans to prefer the ones that are more chaotic. Usually, if a player gets a late jump or takes a bad route, there’s more ground to cover and more time to make the play truly spectacular.
And, in fairness, boring defense is often good defense, after all.
But then there are those truly spectacular plays that are also, somehow, boring and/or under control. These plays, however renowned, are usually under-appreciated, even though they’re actually more impressive.
For example, in the clip below, the Blue Jays’ Kevin Pillar demonstrates exactly what that looks like by playing the part of Spider-Man:
That is just an insanely impressive catch. Not only does he time it right, make the wall climb look easy and finish the job (robbing the homer), he does it with such quiet control. He slows down before the wall, instinctively gets to the right spot and comes down/lands safely on the field below.
That is good defense. And, hey, I guess it wasn’t even boring.
