Handing Out San Francisco Giants’ 2015 Superlative Awards
The “Holy Crap He Caught That” Defensive Play of the Year
Mar 5, 2015; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Justin Maxwell (43) holds up the ball after a diving catch in the fourth inning against the Chicago Cubs during a spring training baseball game at Scottsdale Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
This award is pretty self-explanatory. It’s given to the defensive play that made you say “holy crap, he caught that”. The nominees are: Marlon Byrd‘s leaping (six inches off the ground) catch at the wall in San Diego, Hunter Pence‘s sliding catch and throw home against the Mets, Juan Perez‘s basket catch in St. Louis, and pretty much any play Justin Maxwell made in April.
Sheer volume gives this award to Maxwell, who made a lot of ridiculous catches early in the season, but the single craziest defensive play goes to Juan Perez!
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On August 19th, Matt Cain toed the rubber, looking to get back to his old form that made him the Horse. The second batter of the game, Stephen Piscotty, had a different idea as he crushed a fastball to center field, and it looked like a surefire home run off the bat. But in center field, Juan Perez may have accidentally given away his secret identity as a superhero.
Going back and to his right, Perez leaped and planted his right foot in the wall before sticking his left foot into the padding. He stuck his glove out and watched as the ball landed, not in the bushes on the top of the fence, but safely in Perez’s glove as he completed probably the greatest home-run robbing basket catch of all time.
If you watch really closely on the replay, you can see the blue and red Spiderman uniform peek out from Perez’s jersey as he floated back down to Earth.
Next: Ouch!