![]() ![]() But we’re going to see a lot of plays that we’re going to say ‘Wow’ quite a bit.” Hopefully we don’t have to see a lot of those plays. “It’s something that they work on quite a bit, coming in on a ball and tipping it up and making sure they don’t panic. “It’s a lot of fun watching those guys play out there,” Gibson said. Gibson knew his shelf life on the mound was close to expiring but appreciated the end result of the hard work put in by the team’s outfielders in Fort Myers, Fla. From his perch in the dugout, Molitor didn’t see the catch completed until he watched a replay shortly thereafter.īut from the mound, Gibson got to take in the entire play. Manager Paul Molitor’s plane of vision on the play was blocked enough that he thought the ball dropped in for a hit. “I thought I caught the ball, but when the glove hit the floor, the ball went up,” Rosario said. Just like Neo at the end of ‘The Matrix,’ Rosario said he watched the entire play in slow-motion. The left fielder appeared to close the heel of the glove on the ball too early, which somehow popped it into the air long enough for him to make the sliding grab with his throwing hand. Rosario raced in, taking no more than seven paces before he thrust his glove at the ball. The no-hitter may be over but this Eddie Rosario catch is still INSANE The ball exited Mancini’s bat at 106.7 mph and at a launch angle of 10 degrees and hung in the air for less than two seconds, which gave it an 84 percent chance of becoming a hit, according to Baseball Savant. Mancini ripped a 2-2 changeup from Gibson on a low line toward left field. Though Gibson’s high pitch count all but assured he would not have a chance to complete his quest for a no-hitter, Rosario at least kept alive the opportunity for a combined effort. “Basically, any plane where you’re not used to seeing the ball, we just tried to make sure he has some history seeing the ball in that plane.” “We don’t do them moving, for the most part. “Each (drill) was designed to get them used to seeing the ball in that plane and then making sure they knew what glove angle was appropriate for that play,” Pickler said. ![]() The catch ended the inning and temporarily preserved Kyle Gibson’s no-hit bid. The effort paid off in the sixth inning on Saturday night when Rosario slid and got enough of his glove under the rocket off Trey Mancini’s bat to tip it in the air before snatching it with his bare hand. Outfield coach Jeff Pickler worked with each member of the entire group individually at least twice a week during the spring to get them ready for the variety of angles they could experience in a game situation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |