‘One of the best catches I’ve ever seen’: Watch Royals’ Michael A. Taylor rob home run
It turns out that it’s easier to get a facial reaction from Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke than it is to pull one out of center fielder Michael A. Taylor.
Greinke and Taylor are probably two of the most stoic players in the Major Leagues, always playing it close to the vest with their emotions, but when Taylor took a page out of Ken Griffey Jr.’s book by using the center field wall to boost himself to make a home run-saving catch, Greinke couldn’t help crack a smile.
“Really? I missed that,” Taylor said when told his catch for a reaction from Greinke. “I wish I would’ve seen it.”
Unfortunately, Taylor’s grab — an early catch of the year candidate — and Greinke’s strong outing were in a losing effort as the Royals were shut out 1-0 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
“That’s one of the best catches I’ve ever seen,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “The speed that he was going when he got to the ball, instincts, seeing the wall, climbing, then having the athleticism to find a glove anywhere near it — you’re not going to see many better than that.”
In a one-run game with two outs in the fifth inning, Greinke gave up a deep drive to Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner that looked to be ticketed for the center field stands.
Well, that’s where it was headed until Taylor ran, leaped, put a foot in the wall, snatched the ball out of the air and pulled it back out of the first row of the stands for the final out of the inning.
“Off the bat, I knew he got it pretty good,” Taylor said. “So it was either going to be up against the wall or over it. I was just trying to get back there as quickly as possible and peek, just so I know where I’m at. I was able to time it up and make the play.”
Taylor said he looked away from the ball to find the wall and make sure he knew how much space he had so as not to “have a replay” of last season in Baltimore when he ran into the outfield wall while looking up at a ball off the bat of DJ Stewart.
In Baltimore, Taylor never got a chance to make a leaping catch on Stewart’s ball because he smacked into the wall at Camden Yards, and Stewart got a homer.
“I honestly didn’t plan on putting my foot in the wall,” Taylor said of the play against the Cardinals. “It just kind of worked out with the spacing and when I felt like I needed to jump and get a little extra.”
Knizner connected and hit the ball squarely.
“I wasn’t positive,” Greinke said of thinking the ball was a home run. “I mean, I knew he hit it good and it was probably a 70% chance I thought it was going to be a homer when he first hit it.”
According to MLB’s data, the ball came off Knizner’s bat with an exit velocity of 102.6 mph and traveled 411 feet.
You’re only supposed to hit the ball 400 feet to center field to get it out of the ballpark.
“When he jumped up, I thought it went over the fence,” Greinke said. “Then I saw the ball, kind of, in his glove. It was kind of, like, shocking. The play was even better, looking at it on TV than real life.”
Taylor, who won his first Gold Glove last season in his eighth season in the majors, pulled the ball back onto the field and started running to the visiting dugout as he fought back a smile.
“It was the most excited I’ve been after a play,” Taylor said. “I normally don’t smile or fist pump or anything like that. I kind of felt the urge to, but I resisted so we’re still good.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 6:25 PM.
