If you are just counting catches it is pretty good but Escobar has made more amazing plays than that including a catch a few weeks back.

If Escobar makes catches like or has better plays than that on a consistent basis, lets see them, including the one for a few weeks ago. Not saying you are wrong, I just really want to see them and see if they are better from an athletic stance. Trouts catch is pretty amazing. best of the year? There's more year to go, so I think thats premature. One of the best so far this year? Yes. And so far according to MLB.com its the best play for June. But if Escobar can top it, Id like to see.

I think diving catches are far more difficult to pull off than jumping straight into the air.

Frenchy's catch at the wall last year would rival the one shown. I don't know how to present video clips. Any help?

I think the discussion is about this year. I'd like to see Frenchys catch tho.:thumb:

Curious why you think that. Vertical leaps,especially while also going back are something you dont see too often. Diving catches are fairly more common and dont require the ability to jump really high.

This isn't the play of the year so far. Any diving catch is better than an over the wall grab IMO
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That's better than any ball grabber in a Thai tranny tavern.

Which takes more athleticism to pull off? A diving catch or a vertical leap? It has to be a diving catch. You can use football for example, when a player makes a diving catch it gets more praise than a catch in the air. When you're running and jump your body goes backwards, it's pretty simple to accomplish.

poor example, pretty sure 2 seasons ago every Chiefs fan on this forum and the planet was praising Tony Moeaki's VERTICAL catch in the end zone as more praise than any bozo diving around in the dirt.

a vertical leap takes way more athleticism.

Yeah, the praise had more to do with catching it with 1 hand and getting both feet in than it did the vertical jump.
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Not only that, but a ball hit over your head, near the wall is more difficult to trck than a ball that you chase to the side and to the front of you.

You have to be aware of where you are in reltion to the wall even as you are racing toward that wall and then you have to time your leap perfectly.

There is no room for even the most minor error.

There is no way in hell that a diving catch is more difficult, or more impressive.

You have to time your leap even more perfectly when you're diving. It takes a lot more effort and timing to dive laterally than it does to jump vertically. And it takes especially good range and speed.

I mean shit, the walls at yankees stadium are 8 feet. That means that even without jumping, a players arms reach over the wall. That doesn't impress me that much. It's still a good catch, but it's just like any other over the wall catch to me.

This

I think the over the wall catch gets some extra points over the diving catch due to the circumstances, moreso than the athleticism or the difficulty of it.

The diving catch prevents a hit, maybe a double or occasionally triple, while going over the wall directly and immediately takes away a score.