Jacob Young's wall-scaling catch turns a Nationals loss into a defensive moment that outlasts the box score
Against the backdrop of a 6-2 loss at loanDepot Park in Miami on Sunday, Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young produced one of the more striking defensive plays of this baseball season. His third-inning catch, a…
Key takeaways
- Nationals outfielder Jacob Young made a wall-scaling catch on Heriberto Hernández's deep drive to left-center in the third inning, turning it into an inning-ending double play against the Marlins in Miami on Sunday.
- Washington lost the game 6-2 at loanDepot Park despite the catch.
- Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez read the ball as uncatchable and broke from first expecting extra bases, but was doubled off after Young's throw back to first.
- Young is hitting .244 in 2025 with 10 home runs and 43 RBI, a jump from his combined five home runs across his first three seasons.
- The 27-year-old has ranked among the sport's better defensive outfielders since arriving in the majors late in the 2023 season, with speed as his constant.
Against the backdrop of a 6-2 loss at loanDepot Park in Miami on Sunday, Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young produced one of the more striking defensive plays of this baseball season. His third-inning catch, a wall-scaling snare on Heriberto Hernández's deep drive to left-center, took what appeared to be certain extra bases off the board and became an inning-ending double play, stranding the Marlins at 1-0.
Miami shortstop Otto Lopez read the ball as uncatchable on contact and broke hard from first base expecting extra bases. The conditions supported that read: Marlins outfielder Hernández had connected cleanly with an 86-mph slider from Nationals starter Jackson Kent and driven it deep to left-center with one out. Young judged it differently. He tracked the ball deep and read the closing distance early, slowing at the last moment to time the jump. After planting his right leg on the mesh fence to generate height, he pushed off with his right hand and took the ball at the top of the wall. Lopez arrived at third base and stood there as Young's throw back to first completed the double play.
What the catch says about where Young stands this season
The play fits a track record that runs back to his arrival in the majors toward the end of the 2023 season. Young has ranked among the better defensive outfielders in the sport through that stretch, with his speed as the constant. What is new in 2025 is the offensive output. He is hitting .244 this year with 10 home runs and 43 RBI; he had a combined five home runs across his first three seasons in the league. The 27-year-old's offensive profile was a question for a long time. The defensive one was not.
The Nationals lost Sunday's game 6-2 in Miami. Young's catch will circulate well past that result; the standings record only the score.
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