baseball

Angels outfielder robs three home runs in one game

Yahoo Sports

Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell robbed three home runs against the Seattle Mariners on April 4 to preserve a 1-0 victory at Angel Stadium. The unprecedented performance sealed the victory on a night when Zach Neto’s solo home run made the difference on the scoreboard. The box score didn’t do Adell justice.

In the first inning, Adell leaped at the wall and caught a would-be home run by Cal Raleigh above the yellow stripe in right field. In the eighth inning, Adell made a nearly identical catch to deny Josh Naylor a home run. MORE: Royals’ 22-year-old’s alarming mistake prompted team to call his parents Then in the ninth inning, J.

P. Crawford literally put a ball in the first row of seats in the right-field corner. Adell simply got there first — leaping into the seats behind the short fence, then making the catch before falling into the crowd.

A replay review upheld the initial call on the field. Adell was a center fielder when the Angels made him their first-round draft pick in 2017. He toggled between center and right field after reaching the majors in 2020, enduring his share of struggles in the field along the way.

MORE: Ex-Yankees pitcher rips umpire: ‘something has to be done’ about CB Bucknor But by 2024, Adell found his footing. According to one metric, he was the second-best defensive right fielder in the American League that year, behind only eventual Gold Glove Award winner Wilyer Abreu. Last season saw Adell shift back to center field, as the Angels tried to make Mike Trout their everyday right fielder.