Kiermaier had a 15% chance to catch this. Guess what happened?
Keegan Matheson
@KeeganMathesonTORONTO -- Kevin Kiermaier just painted another masterpiece.
In a career defined by brilliant defensive plays, Thursday¡¯s diving catch at Rogers Centre has to rank near the top as Kiermaier went from a full sprint to fully extending in the air, robbing the Brewers' Andruw Monasterio of extra bases in the Blue Jays' 3-1 victory.?
As the ball soared towards the warning track in right-center, Kiermaier needed to cover 92 feet in just 4.7 seconds to make the catch. Even a ¡°good¡± athlete comes up well short of making this catch, but Kiermaier reached a sprint speed of 30.4 feet per second, north of the 30 ft./sec. that Statcast uses as the bar for ¡°elite¡± speed.
The result? Kiermaier making one of the plays of the season on a ball that had just a 15% catch probability.
¡°Holy [crap], basically,¡± John Schneider said. ¡°From everyone, him included. You don¡¯t expect that, but you¡¯ve seen it enough that when the ball goes up, you think you¡¯ve got the guy [who can catch it]. Everyone, from the players to the staff, it was, ¡®Holy [crap].¡¯¡±
Kevin Gausman, watching from the mound, had a similar reaction.
¡°Probably another cuss word that I shouldn¡¯t say," Gausman said.
Kiermaier is a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, but for Blue Jays fans who spent most of the past decade watching him patrol center for the Rays, it feels like he¡¯s won 10. He still ranks among the game¡¯s best, too, with his five Outs Above Average (OAA) tying him for second among all qualified center fielders in MLB, trailing only Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox with six.
¡°I told him after the game that it looked like he had no chance to get to that from my vantage point,¡± Gausman said. ¡°Then he just came out of nowhere and made the play. You love to see guys that play like that. I respect Kevin a lot because of that. I watched him do that a lot [when I was] in Baltimore, so I¡¯m happy he¡¯s doing it for me now.¡±
This is exactly what the Blue Jays envisioned when they signed him to a one-year, $9 million deal in the offseason, but Kiermaier¡¯s all-around game has exceeded all expectations. Kiermaier is holding true to his promise to be ¡°the best No. 9 hitter in baseball¡±, and once again, he¡¯s proving that he is still a human highlight reel the moment the ball is hit in the air.