MINNEAPOLIS -- Spectacular catches have become a regular part of Bradley Zimmer's play in center field for the Indians. When he landed on the disabled list earlier this month, Cleveland's defensive highlight reel was lacking in the dynamic dives department.
Well, Zimmer is back and he dropped jaws again during Sunday afternoon's eventual 7-5 loss to the Twins.
In the second inning against the Twins, Ryan LaMarre drove an inside fastball from Tribe starter Mike Clevinger deep into the left-center-field gap at Target Field with no outs and a runner on first base. Battling strong winds, Zimmer broke to his right and quickly closed in on the warning track as the baseball appeared destined to drop in front of the wall.
Zimmer left his feet and reached for the ball with a fully-extended dive, snaring it from the sky as he landed on the edge of the grass and slid into the warning track's dirt. As the stadium's crowd let out a collective gasp -- followed by a groan at the realization that the catch was completed -- the center fielder scrambled to his feet and fired the ball back in, as Robbie Grossman retreated to first base.
Per Statcast™, Zimmer hit a Sprint Speed of 28.2 feet per second on the play, during which he covered 76 feet in 4.7 seconds.
That grab was Example A of why the Indians are happy to have Zimmer back from the DL. He was banged up on a catch attempt on May 5 at Yankee Stadium, where he crashed hard into the center-field wall and sustained chest bruising and shoulder soreness. Cleveland activated Zimmer from the 10-day DL on Friday during the current series against the Twins.