There's a longstanding baseball-ism that says you'd rather be lucky than good. Cody Bellinger is good, but he wasn't afraid to give Lady Luck her due credit after he made a crazy catch in the Yankees' 8-2 win over the Marlins on Friday in their home opener.
With nobody out in the top of the ninth, Miami's Xavier Edwards lined a ball to left, sending Bellinger toward the wall. As he neared the warning track, Bellinger extended his glove arm and leaped in an attempt to make the catch. The ball hit off the bottom of his glove near his wrist and began falling toward the ground.
With one motion, he swooped his arm downward and snagged the ball in no-look fashion, an impressive melding of instinct and athleticism all displayed in a fraction of a second.
Seemingly in disbelief that he actually made the catch, Bellinger turned back toward the field and lifted both arms in victory, to the delight of the home crowd.
"I definitely thought I had it from the jump. I should have caught it the first time," Bellinger said after the game. "I think I squeezed the glove too early. I just felt it kind of drop in front of me. I just got lucky. I definitely got lucky. Threw my glove out there."
Sometimes, you need luck. Sometimes, you need talent. Sometimes, you need both.