Athletics center fielder Denzel Clarke has shown himself capable of stealing home runs during his MLB career. On Saturday, his attempt to do so against the New York Mets went very wrong.
Clarke was trying to line up a deep fly ball off the bat of New York’s Francisco Alvarez during Saturday’s game at Citi Field in New York, N.Y. He leaped up to try to make a leaping catch, but didn’t quite line it up perfectly and knocked the ball over the fence instead.
Denzel Clarke nearly made an incredible catch, but instead knocked this Francisco Alvarez ball over the fence for a home run pic.twitter.com/KsDM6H1reo
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 11, 2026
It wasn’t entirely clear if Alvarez’s hit would have left the ballpark without Clarke’s intervention, but it certainly would have been close. Either way, Clarke’s missed catch left no doubt.
Make no mistake: Clarke is more than qualified to try to make catches like that. If anything, the degree of difficulty on this one was lower than some of the catches he actually has made. Even the best don’t have a perfect success rate, though.
Clarke is off to a slow start at the plate this season, hitting .161 entering play Saturday. The A’s will gladly keep him out there for his defense, though.
