Royals’ Michael A. Taylor breaks down Kansas City’s ‘defensive play of the year’
Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor turned and ran.
That sort of thing is usually done as self-preservation, but Taylor’s actions played a part in saving the Royals from falling into a hole Wednesday night against the Brewers.
In the sixth inning of the Royals’ 6-4 win at Kauffman Stadium, Milwaukee had a runner at third with one out when Jackie Bradley Jr. crushed a pitch from Royals reliever Jake Brentz. The exit velocity of the ball was 101.3 mph and the it traveled 414 feet.
Those familiar with the dimensions of Kauffman Stadium know that the center field wall is 410 feet from home plate.
So the natural assumption would be that Bradley hit a home run. Instead, Taylor turned it into a very long sacrifice fly that gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead:
Here’s another look at the play that Bally Sports Kansas City’s Ryan Lefebvre called the Royals’ “defensive play of the year:”
“That’s one of the better catches you’re gonna see on the full run,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “He made that look a whole lot easier than what it was. It was a great catch.”
Taylor traveled 99 feet to make the grab. Statcast said the expected batting average on the play was .640 and it would have been a home run in 19 Major League Baseball stadiums.
“It was basically just directly over my head so I had to pick a side and after that I was just trying to chase it down the best I could,” Taylor said. “He hit it pretty high, so I had a good amount of time to get back there. I was able to check the wall, twice I believe. So I knew where I was and then from there it was just having enough room and luckily here The K you have plenty of room and it was just at the right of the wall.”
Did Taylor know he’d get to the ball?
“It was high enough,” he said, “I felt like I had a chance as long as I didn’t run out of room.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 9:27 AM.
