MIAMI -- With the Nationals trailing by a run in the bottom of the third inning, everyone at loanDepot park rose in anticipation when Heriberto Hernández sent an 86 mph slider off Jackson Kent deep to left-center field.
It looked destined to be a homer or at least an extra-base hit, but Washington center fielder Jacob Young gave his best Spider-Man audition on the play before the Nats’ 6-2 loss to the Marlins on Sunday.
With Washington closing out a rough 1-8 road trip, Young believes those types of catches can begin to spark the club’s offense.
“It definitely is part of it,” Young said. “If you're not scoring too many runs, try to take away as many as possible.”
His “Spider-Man” nickname is one he has heard a few times.
“It's a fun one,” said Young, who ranks third in the Majors at his position with 12 Outs Above Average. “But you know, if [I] keep catching the ball, [the fans] can call me whatever they want.”
The ball came off the bat at 105.7 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 405 feet. Young tracked it all the way, covering 93 feet, before taking a quick look at the wall and scaling it with two climbs while stretching to catch the ball.
“One of the best catches I've ever seen live,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “I really couldn't even see it because of the videoboard back there. You just see this guy jump up, and next thing, he's throwing the ball back in.
“It was like Otis Nixon from the early '90s, with the Braves, when he went into right-center and made a play, to scale that wall. [Young’s] a phenomenal defender, and we get to unfortunately see him make a lot of those plays.”
Young has played in Miami often enough to know about the tall wall and acknowledged that the chain link is never the easiest to maneuver.
“It just kind of ended up in the spot where I like to climb them,” Young said. “And I'm gonna give myself a chance. And when I looked up, the ball was there, so it was cool to be able to get [Jackson] a couple more innings and keep us in the game.”
Those types of plays are ones where Young lets what he has practiced his whole life take over.
“They're instinctual,” he said. “Most things, everything's happening so fast out there ... [I just] go try to catch everything.”
Once he confirmed the ball made it into his glove, Young threw it back to the infield to double up Otto Lopez, who drew a leadoff walk, at first base. Young also recorded the first out of the inning when he caught a fly ball from Agustín Ramírez.
“Unbelievable play. It was huge for us, right?” manager Blake Butera said. “In the game where it was right there, that would have been a two-run homer. It was an unbelievable catch. He does it day in and day out. Just really impressive.”
Kent looked like he could not believe the catch and pointed to Young when Lopez was called out. Young then jogged from center field and was met with high-fives from the Nationals' dugout.
“Unbelievable” was also the word Kent used to begin to describe what he saw.
“He can make every catch,” said Kent, who allowed three runs on four hits and three walks to go with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. “I'm not worried whenever a ball goes over there, I'm like, ‘He's gonna make it.’”
In his third Major League start, those types of plays have helped the left-hander settle into his outings more.
“If the ball gets in play, the defense can make a play,” Kent said. “I'm not worried about that. I'm just trying to get in the zone, and whatever happens, happens. And I know they're gonna make the play.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Javier Sanoja also threatened with a long ball, but Daylen Lile made sure to take care of it with a leaping catch close to the left-field wall.
The only runs for the Nats on Sunday came when Dylan Crews followed Young's catch with an RBI double in the next inning and Jorbit Vivas added an RBI double in the sixth before Lile made his catch.
“Anything kind of gives a spark,” Young said. “I think that's what we need right now. We need to make something go our way. Can't kind of wish it to go away. We need to make something go our way and [with] a couple plays, get the snowball start rolling and kind of get going.”