ANDRES JR

🗣️ José Mourinho: "Ganar partidos en el Real Madrid tiene que ser la NORMALIDAD. Yo veo un VESTUARIO feliz con música HORRIBLE pero HORRIBLE." JAJAJAJAJAJA 🤣🤣🤣

HONOR A YAN DIOMANDE 👏🏻

Throwing out arguably the fastest baserunner in the MLB at the time (Carl Crawford) is one of the highlights of my career that I wanted to detail for the outfielders out there wanting to improve their arms. Here are some factors that went into this play. (Longer post, but all very important to the play) 1. Playing on turf. I knew keeping the ball low would help me because the ball doesn't lose much velocity on the bounce. My number one concerned was to exaggerate keeping the ball down. 2. Tropicana's baseball colored roof. The ceiling of this dome makes high fly balls difficult to track and read, so my number one concern was to catch the ball. If this ball drops, the runner will likely score. 3. Tying run in scoring position. That run was extremely important, as the Rays were the home team and playing to extend the game by at least tying. 4. Before the play, I visualized all the scenarios that I could possibly see. The one I had in my mind was a softer single through the first base hole where I would need to throw the runner out at home. 5. Short-hop throw to 3rd that A-Rod picked masterfully. That's a tough pick and tag. 6. Brett Gardner waiting behind the play, backing up 3rd from left field. This is such an underrated aspect of this play. Not only his integrity in doing this when the pitcher is also backing up, but also the speed at which he got there was impressive. 7. Unseen in this clip, Curtis Granderson saw Carl Crawford get back to 2nd preparing to tag and yelled, "He's tagging! He's tagging!" Already in scoring position, it was a questionable decision to tag that could have caught me of guard if my centerfielder isn't communicating the play as it develops. I had spent years during my daily long toss routine trying to master positioning the ball to four-seams in my hand between glove exchange and the throw as well as making my crow-hop efficient and quick. Grabbing four-seams is crucial to keeping the throw straight and increasing carry if the arm slot is over the top. As an outfielder, I was able to use my leverage on throws with an over the top arm slot and increase backswing and carry. This also increases accuracy by limiting the possibility of the release point to just high and low (and not side to side). The flat-footed catch was my attempt at securing the catch, but the quick crow-hop and quick release allowed me to not have to "get behind it" while (most importantly) catching the ball with a tough "sky." My target was to throw the ball through the cutoff man's chest with a flat release of the ball out of the hand. With all the factors that went into this play, hitting Jeter in the chest would put my throw perfectly in line and on target to the base, and hopefully in time to get a speedy Carl Crawford. There aren't many things more exhilarating than releasing a ball and KNOWING the runner will be out before anyone else. But outfield play has to be worked on diligently. Any one of those factors not being polished could have turned this game-ending double play into a game-tying run on an error. Thanks for allowing me to drive down memory lane!