Fan holding a baby snares a foul ball -- and the baby sleeps right through it!

PEORIA, Ariz. -- The Padres welcomed back two Gold Glovers on Thursday, with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado returning to the lineup after their trip to the World Baseball Classic.

But the best play made by a Padre on Thursday night? That came in section 110 at the Peoria Sports Complex.

In the fifth inning of San Diego’s 13-6 Cactus League win over the White Sox, Freddy Fermin was late on a Riley Gowens fastball, fouling it off over the home dugout.

Matt Rendina, a Padres fan from Oceanside, Calif., was holding his friend’s baby, Rocky, at the time. Rendina stood delicately with Rocky -- just 10 weeks old and sleeping -- in his right hand. He proceeded to make an impressive barehanded catch with his left.

"Fermin hits it, fly ball, it’s coming right at me,” Rendina said. “I had the baby, so I had to carefully stand up. I just put my arm out and grabbed it.”

And Rocky kept right on sleeping. Even as the crowd applauded Rendina’s play, Rendina merely smiled and continued to rock the infant.

Color commentator Mark Grant intoned, “That’s a big league dad right there! Great play!”

True, though Rocky isn’t Rendina’s kiddo. Rendina’s kids were at the game as well. The Rendinas were one group in a multi-family party of nine Padres fans who made the trek to catch a few Spring Training games this weekend, renting a house together for the occasion.

They’ll go back with quite a story. And a souvenir. But who gets the baseball?

“Rocky does, of course,” Rendina said.

Rendina isn’t the first Padres parent to make an impressive one-handed catch with a baby in tow. A few years back, this mom made an impressive backhanded grab while holding her baby.

Obviously, Wil Myers was onto something back in 2021.