Some fans go their whole life and never catch a foul ball at a baseball game.
A Seattle Mariners fan crossed that item off his bucket list in the bottom of the first inning Monday night, when Josh Rojas lifted a long fly down the left-field foul line.
The fan reached out and caught the ball with two hands.
“You talk about a basket catch in its truest form, hot start for that guy out there,” Mariners play-by-play announcer Aaron Goldsmith said on Root Sports Northwest.
On the very next pitch, Rojas lifted another foul ball into the same general area. Goldsmith’s voice rose, because the ball, like the one on the previous pitch, possibly had home run distance if it stayed fair. But you could also sense from Goldsmith’s tone that he sensed what might be about to happen.
“Again, let’s see, into the corner, what do we got?” Goldsmith said. “He’s got both! He got ’em both!”
The fan stood and held both balls aloft.
“Jerry, give that man a contract,” Goldsmith said, referencing Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto.
A Seattle Mariners fan caught a foul ball on BACK-TO-BACK PITCHES, deep down the left field line at T-Mobile Park.
The amazing feat as seen and heard on the Root Sports Northwest Mariners broadcast. ⚾️🎙️😲pic.twitter.com/Sf2s2831uc
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 14, 2024
“What are the chances?” color analyst Mike Blowers asked.
It really did defy astronomical odds that the same fan, sitting almost 325 feet away from home plate, caught foul balls on consecutive pitches. In case you’re wondering how that could happen, check out the MLB.com pitch chart:
Both pitches were sinkers thrown in almost exactly the same spot, at almost exactly the same speed (92.8 vs. 93.1 mph).
Even given those facts, these back-to-back plays defied the odds.
Per @SBNation On average your odds of catching a foul ball in a game are 1:580, two foul balls? 1:336,400. Getting them on back-to-back pitches? You’re looking well into the hundreds of millions, if not billions.
🤯 #mlb #baseball #Seattle https://t.co/PC0LjJ7pDP https://t.co/E73LoWvKLH
— randysilvertv (@randysilvertv) May 14, 2024
[MLB]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.