There are unbelievable outfield catches and then there are Mike Trout catches, which often times defy logic or physics. On Friday night in Seattle, he made another catch that defied both. However, it also seemed to defy Trout's baseball instincts.
With a good read off the bat, Trout likely makes a routine catch on Kendrys Morales' eighth-inning line drive. However, in a rare moment where Trout more closely resembled a human than a machine designed to dominate baseball, he flat out misjudged it. There's no other way to describe or explain the route he took. Rather than angling back toward the center field wall, Trout initially took two steps in a straight line toward right-center, and those steps appeared to be costly as the ball started to sail over his head.
Not so fast though. This is still Mike Trout we're talking about. When his instincts sometimes elude him, his other-worldly athleticism can easily make up for it, and this was one of those cases where his superior physical ability made all the difference.
With the baseball literally over his head and behind him, Trout leaped with his momentum taking him away from the baseball, suspended himself in the air and reached back over his head to make an incredible no-look catch. He literally did not watch the baseball enter his glove. He was looking straight ahead, but that where's the baseball ended up. That's also where it stayed as he crashed to the ground and rolled over.
It was, without question, the best recovery you'll see on a fly ball. The result was good too. It's just difficult to call it one of the best overall plays because of the rough start.
It's interesting, too, because Trout's defense has not rated well this season. His Ultimate Zone Rating, which most would admit is far from a flawless defensive metric, is down to minus-7.5 this season. That would obviously suggest he's a well below average fielder. Angels manager Mike Scioscia calls that rating "crazy," and we'd tend to agree based on the totality of evidence. Still, the rating can't be ignored or dismissed. Perhaps Trout's defense needs a thorough reevaluation.
With Trout's Angels locked into the postseason, we'll get some good looks at his game starting next week. For now, though, it's worth simply marveling at his athleticism.
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