Playing center field in the major leagues is hard. If you need evidence of that, just check out Minnesota Twins emergency center fielder Rob Refsnyder.
Refsnyder, an infielder by trade, has been playing center for the Twins in place of the injured Byron Buxton. Refsnyder came into Monday hitting .348, so the Twins were willing to make some defensive sacrifices to keep his hot bat in the lineup.
With that in mind, Refsnyder isn’t really familiar with the ins and outs of playing center, especially in visiting ballparks. That explains why he completely ate it tracking this home run ball off the bat of Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle at Camden Yards in Baltimore.
dude just forgot outfield walls existed
— Stephen (@b_outliers) May 31, 2021
Rob Refsnyder runs directly into outfield wall. pic.twitter.com/aISBEHI5Oz
— Baseball GIFs (@gifs_baseball) May 31, 2021
Refsnyder appeared fine and stayed in the game, so it’s okay to chuckle a little. That said, this is what the warning track is for. It’s also why you often see outfielders keep an arm out as they’re chasing a fly ball so they can know how close they are to the wall before they run into it like this. Refsnyder is totally new to the position, as Monday marked just his 14th MLB appearance in center, with all of them coming in 2021. These things don’t come quite as naturally to him as they probably should.
Plenty of natural outfielders have crashed into walls and come away from it worse than Refsnyder did. Plus, it’s not as if the play cost Minnesota a run or anything — or at least not one that wouldn’t have scored otherwise. Hopefully he can have a sense of humor about it.
