Among the Rays outfielders, it’s Kevin Kiermaier whose name comes to mind first when it comes to sterling defensive plays. However, on Wednesday, it was Steven Souza Jr. who made a highlight reel play.
In the top of the fourth inning, Chris Davis drove a pitch from Matt Moore into the gap in right center field that looked destined to find the ground and head towards the wall. Souza had other ideas though, running what seemed like clear across Tropicana Field to track the ball down before leaving his feet to make an amazing diving catch just in front of the 370 ft. mark on the outfield wall.
According to MLB’s Statcast, Souza covered 88 ft. to make the catch and reached a top speed of 19.5 mph while running.
#Statcast metrics for Souza's great catch… First step 0.3 seconds, distance covered 88ft, route efficiency 96.1%, top speed 19.5 MPH.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 28, 2016
Granted it’s still very early in the season, but it will take a really special effort to top this one for “Catch of the Year.”
