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Monday, August 13, 2012

USA Today: Video: Rajai Davis scales 10-foot wall, steals home run

[T]he wall at Rogers Centre is 10 feet high. The 5-9 Davis, using the wall for a boost, timed his leap perfectly and reached over it to rob Casey McGehee of a certain home run.

bobm Posted: August 13, 2012 at 12:30 AM | 27 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: blue jays

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1. Fernigal McGunnigle has become a merry hat Posted: August 13, 2012 at 09:00 AM (#4207101)

His timing is spectacular. He pauses a few strides from the wall so that he can make a proper running leap, and then does so very precisely. That's as impressive as everything else he does on the play.

2. Greg (U)K Posted: August 13, 2012 at 09:11 AM (#4207106)

My dad's normally a pretty easy-going, charitable guy, but absolutely cannot stand Rajai Davis. He is one of those guys who for some reason can't translate his speed into good defence.

Of course, he did alright on this play.

3. Lassus Posted: August 13, 2012 at 09:11 AM (#4207107)

Now that is why you watch baseball. Outstanding.

4. Rants Mulliniks (formerly Cold Prosimian) Posted: August 13, 2012 at 09:53 AM (#4207123)

That's about as much skill as I've ever seen an outfielder show.

5. TVerik Posted: August 13, 2012 at 10:37 AM (#4207163)

The play couldn't have unfolded more smoothly if it was rehearsed. Good on Davis; wonder if he practiced wall-scaling for just such an occasion.

6. Russlan is fond of Dillon Gee Posted: August 13, 2012 at 10:49 AM (#4207173)

Endy Chavez, 2006 NLCS game 7 catch.

7. Random Transaction Generator Posted: August 13, 2012 at 11:02 AM (#4207181)

Good on Davis; wonder if he practiced wall-scaling for just such an occasion.

Yes.

"It's something that [hitting coach Dwayne Murphy] and I talked about earlier in the year. We talked about planting the leg, getting up over the wall. But it takes a perfect ball to be able to time that right, and then the ball coming down, it takes perfect timing. I think we were able to establish that."

8. Random Transaction Generator Posted: August 13, 2012 at 11:04 AM (#4207185)

I remember when Ichiro had his "Spider-Man" catch a few years ago, and people went crazy over it (even though he had to reach down to catch the ball, as he scaled too high). This is like that catch, except better (no chain link fence, maximum reach).

9. Papa Squid Posted: August 13, 2012 at 11:38 AM (#4207207)

I recall Devon White stealing a HR in Camden Yards back in 1994. It seemed like half his torso was over the wall, I thought he would fall over onto the other side.

10. Dale Sams Posted: August 13, 2012 at 11:44 AM (#4207213)

And yes...it was better than Trout's.

11. phredbird

Posted: August 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM (#4207246)

i've seen comments elsewhere that it wasn't so great yada yada but really i think he made a surpassingly tough catch look easy. that makes it all the more impressive to me.

12. Benji Gil Gamesh Rises Posted: August 13, 2012 at 12:33 PM (#4207250)

And yes...it was better than Trout's.

Debatable.

Davis's and Trout's were both clearly better than Bernadina's though.

13. jacksone (AKA It's OK...) Posted: August 13, 2012 at 12:55 PM (#4207265)

I see a lot of players who really aren’t seasoned; who don’t know the basics and fundamentals.

A recent quote from Andre Dawson.

14. Random Transaction Generator Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:08 PM (#4207273)

I recall Devon White stealing a HR in Camden Yards back in 1994. It seemed like half his torso was over the wall, I thought he would fall over onto the other side.

I remember that one. He caught it with his backhand, and his underarm/chest was resting on the top of the wall.
The ball landed in his glove about two feet behind the wall, and half a foot below it.

His World Series catch is the one he'll be remembered/loved for, but that Camden Yards theft was straight up bonkers.

15. Robert in Manhattan Beach Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:23 PM (#4207280)

I grade all these catches on the Otis Nixon robbing Andy Van Slyke scale of course, this one does well. Not a full Nixon but maybe .8 or .85. Not bad at all. Looked like a double if he doesn't catch it. Obligatory link to the gold standard:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=20173935

Edit: OK, the Chavez catch was great too, but the two reasons I think this is the gold standard. 1) The look on Van Slyke's face is awesome and 2) you don't even need to provide context, you can see the score is 1-0 in the ninth from the scoreboard above Nixon's head, the throw back in tells you there was a guy on first. Obviously a game saver.

16. PreservedFish Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:23 PM (#4207281)

Endy Chavez, 2006 NLCS game 7 catch.

They're both pretty awesome. Endy's might have been the most definitive homerun saver I've seen - that ball was feet over the wall, and of course ultraclutch.

Maybe I'm wrong but it looks like this one might not gone over the wall. But just the way Davis slows down, measures his stride, and times if perfectly is awesome. Beautiful and impressive play. (Reminds me of the wall-climbing move in Baseball Stars.)

17. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:34 PM (#4207288)

I grade all these catches on the Otis Nixon robbing Andy Van Slyke scale of course, this one does well. Not a full Nixon but maybe .8 or .85. Not bad at all. Looked like a double if he doesn't catch it. Obligatory link to the gold standard:

Davis' looks better than Nixon's, to me. The walls are the same height (10 feet), and Nixon is five inches taller than Davis.

Davis needs to jump six inches higher onto the wall to be able to reach over. Look at the perfect and careful timing of Davis - the only chance he has to make the catch is to be right at the apex. Nixon has some leeway to wait, so he doesn't need to be quite as careful.

18. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:38 PM (#4207295)

Here's Endy's. It's just about perfect for the leap-only HR saving catch. (Davis and Nixon do the climb.)

Trout's jump is better (
see here), but he doesn't actually need 100% of his video-game quality leap to make the catch. Chavez gets the ball at the peak of his jump, and sno-cones it for good measure.

19. Dale Sams Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:45 PM (#4207302)

Still waiting to see someone stand on top of a wall then jump.

20. PreservedFish Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:47 PM (#4207305)

Nixon has further to run. The call is great too: "He goes as far as he can go!," which is immediately proven to be false.

They are close, though. Davis' catch is backhanded. Nixon's dismount is much more attractive.

Endy is my winner, but I'm biased. He had to run all out to get to his leaping spot and his leap had to be perfect, because the ball hits his mitt at the absolute apex. One measure of how improbable that catch was is how easily the runner off of first base was doubled up.

21. TVerik Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:59 PM (#4207313)

I don't have a link to the video, but for sheer game-situation drama, Melky Cabrera's robbery of Manny Ramirez in a Yankees/Red Sox tilt a few years ago was very special to me. As I recall, it was a late/close situation.

22. Benji Gil Gamesh Rises Posted: August 13, 2012 at 01:59 PM (#4207314)

(redacted for stupidity)

23. Lassus Posted: August 13, 2012 at 02:03 PM (#4207316)

Here's Endy's. It's just about perfect for the leap-only HR saving catch.

I take absolutely zero joy from this catch. I don't think anyone else shouldn't, of course, but holistically it still bums me out.

24. Matt Clement of Alexandria Posted: August 13, 2012 at 02:04 PM (#4207319)

Nixon has further to run.

That's a good point. If you had Nixon's run with Davis' leap, you'd have the perfect wall-climb catch.

25. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: August 13, 2012 at 02:31 PM (#4207338)

I take absolutely zero joy from this catch. I don't think anyone else shouldn't, of course, but holistically it still bums me out.

Same here. Accomplishing something great in a Game 7 that your team lost ... what do we do with those memories?

26. Obo Posted: August 14, 2012 at 05:04 PM (#4208282)

I remember that one. He caught it with his backhand, and his underarm/chest was resting on the top of the wall.
The ball landed in his glove about two feet behind the wall, and half a foot below it.

The other thing I think I remember about that catch is that afterwards White was acting all nonchalant, but at one point he covered his face with his glove. The tv camera caught him on the reverse angle and he was looking towards one of the other Toronto fielders (Joe Carter?) with this massive grin on his face.

27. Bitter Calculus Instructor Posted: August 14, 2012 at 05:18 PM (#4208305)

The best HR robbery I've ever seen is Dave Roberts running full speed up Tal's Hill to rob what would have been a 430 ft. bomb by Lance Berkman, thereby preserving Gagne's perfect season.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU200308280.shtml

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/aug/29/sports/sp-dodgers29

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USA Today: Video: Rajai Davis scales 10-foot wall, steals home run

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