Rangers prospect Luke Tendler went out for this tremendous diving catch
In the immediate aftermath of Moneyball, defense -- which, before Statcast was hard to quantify -- went out of favor as teams went all in on offense and on-base ability. Thanks to the arrival of newer metrics such as Statcast's catch probability, defense can now more properly be evaluated and, as such, it is back in vogue.
As a case in point, we turn to Luke Tendler. During Thursday night's game between the Frisco RoughRiders and the Midland RockHounds, the Rangers' outfield prospect showed off his glove.
Tender's catch prevented an extra-base hit and possibly saved a run in a game the RoughRiders won by one run -- 6-5.
Tendler's catch was, of course, also produced in GIF form:
Full extension from @RidersBaseball RF Luke Tendler!
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 19, 2017
Full video: https://t.co/V8LiFUL2EQ #MiLB pic.twitter.com/sDbgLmDriL
Defense is back, and Tendler showed why.
