Statcast: Thwarting thieves and robbing hits
Among the top plays from around the Majors on Friday night, Yankees catcher Brian McCann delivered a strike during the second inning at Yankee Stadium to catch another potential basestealer in his tracks.
Statcast™ tracked another strong throw from McCann as well as a diving grab from Odubel Herrera, a flash of speed from Yoenis Cespedes, and a trio of homers from Bryce Harper, Chris Davis and Jose Abreu.
McCann-on catches Forsythe
With nobody out in the second inning at Yankee Stadium, Rays second baseman Logan Forsythe broke for second base on a 95.9-mph fastball from Luis Severino. Forsythe's first step in his attempt to swipe the bag took 0.3 seconds, and he maxed out at a top speed of 19.9 mph.
But Forysthe was bested by McCann, who made the exchange from his glove to his hand in 0.82 seconds and fired the ball to second at 73.44 mph, ahead of a sliding Forysthe.
McCann can thank his accuracy more than his strength for throwing out Forsythe considering his throw was slightly lower than his average of 76.8 mph on throws to second base this season. Of catchers with at least 25 throws to second base this season that Statcast™ has tracked, Russell Martin leads with an average of 81.5 mph.
Herrera's diving grab
Herrera made a crucial first step in 0.329 seconds that allowed him to make a diving catch to rob Red Sox utility man Brock Holt of a hit in the third inning at Fenway Park.
Video: PHI@BOS: Herrera tops 20 mph across 87 feet for out
Holt lifted a popup into shallow center field and Herrera reached a top speed of 19.83 mph and had 97.7 percent route efficiency in covering 87.6 feet of ground to make his a stellar play.
Harper's moonshot
Harper saw 20 pitches on Thursday night and did not swing at any of them, working four walks and scoring a run each time. He finally connected on a pitch during the first inning on Friday against the Braves and did not miss it, smashing a 95-mph fastball from Julio Teheran for a solo home run.
Video: ATL@WSH: Harper crushes home run 446 feet
The ball left Harper's bat at 110 mph and traveled 446 feet before landing in the second deck, the second-longest homer Harper has hit this season that Statcast™ has tracked. (The first traveled 461 feet and was hit off Aaron Harang on April 18.)
Cespedes legs out a triple
Cespedes laced a sharp line drive off Miami's Koehler that jumped off his bat at 108.7 mph and sped into right-center to start the sixth inning. From the moment he left the box, Cespedes began showing off his speed. It took him 11.9 seconds to dash from the plate to third base, maxing out at a top speed of 20.2 mph as the ball traveled 402 feet.
Video: NYM@MIA: Cespedes cranks it up to 20 mph for a triple
Davis goes oppo for No. 40
Davis launched an impressive opposite-field two-run homer in the sixth inning at Toronto for his second dinger of the day, giving him an American League-leading 40.
Video: BAL@TOR: Davis' hammers 40th homer 408 feet away
Davis deposited a 91-mph first-pitch fastball from Drew Hutchison 409 feet into the left-field seats for his second consecutive multihomer game. The ball left the bat at 107 mph with a launch angle of 28 degrees.
Abreu's homer nearly reaches fountains
Abreu went back-to-back with Adam Eaton in the eighth inning during a rout of Kansas City, blasting his 25th homer of the season off Jeremy Guthrie.
Video: CWS@KC: Abreu hammers 447-foot homer to center field
The ball left Abreu's bat at a 25.8 degree launch angle with an exit velocity of 107.3 mph and traveled 446.8 feet, nearly approaching the fountains out in center field at Kauffman Stadium.