Catch of the year in Major League Baseball? It’s too early to say definitively, of course, but this miracle snare by Denzel Clarke of the Athletics might just be the favorite as of June 9. You won’t see a more jaw-dropping home-run robbery.
A deep fly by Nolan Schanuel of the Angels had a .690 expected batting average on it, and per Statcast estimations, it would have been a home run in four of 30 MLB ballparks. Clarke, though, wasn’t having it. Here’s a look at what he did at the expense of the deep drive off Schanuel’s bat on Monday night:
Clarke is already no stranger to highlight grabs, as he proved mere days ago against the Orioles:
Worth the price of admission, this guy.
The 25-year-old rookie Clarke has played in just 16 games this season, but the center fielder has already made a huge difference with his fielding. According to Statcast, he’s already 6 Outs Above Average. That ties him for sixth in MLB among center fielders even though he’d logged just 118 defensive innings coming into Monday night. The other leading public-facing defensive metric, Defensive Runs Saved, ranks Clarke 10th among his positional peers despite not having played all that much.
There’s not much to recommend about the A’s these days, but Clarke’s artistry in the outfield is a notable exception.
