As soon as Jon Jay made the following absurd catch, I was hustling to type this up.
And then he immediately made another excellent catch on the very next batter. (Relatedly: ease up on the deep, hard contact to center field, Jose Quintana.)
Here’s the incredible catch that kicked things off, followed immediately by the second great catch (CSN):
Jon Jay making outs the hard way pic.twitter.com/epbMqH80u0
— Cubs Talk (@CSNCubs) August 31, 2017
Yes, he got a little turned around on that first one, which made it a little more difficult at the end, but the reality is that he had to bust it backwards without tracking the ball in order to get there in the first place. Only then would he have a chance of relocating the ball (which he did), and then trying to snag it (which he did).
The second catch looked less impressive, but Jay tracked that ball so well. It was 103.4 mph off the bat, headed for that power alley. And Jay got there as quickly as you’d expect a center fielder could. Excellent catch.
Excellent catches.