The Braves cover a lot of ground in these 10 plays from the 2023 regular season
Our next installment in our Statcast series for the Atlanta Braves’ 2023 season takes a look at the most distance covered on fly balls. As was the case with catch probability, some of these won’t look that impressive with the eye test, but when you factor in positioning along with their jump, they aren’t the easiest plays to make.
10. Ronald Acuña Jr. 113 feet (September 18 vs. Philadelphia)
Ronald Acuña Jr. starts us off by flagging down this high pop off the bat of J.T. Realmuto in foul territory. Statcast said that Acuña got a negative 8.1 jump on this play, but still had plenty of time to recover and make the catch.
9. Kevin Pillar 114 feet (April 14 at Kansas City)
This catch by Kevin Pillar also showed up in our Catch Probability post. Pillar travels 114 feet into foul territory to make this catch and had a spring speed of 30.0 feet per second.
8. Michael Harris 115 feet (September 16 at Miami)
This ball looked like it was gone off the bat, but Josh Bell got under it just enough to allow Michael Harris to travel 115 feet to make the play.
T-6. Orlando Arcia 116 feet (May 24 vs. Dodgers)
A rare sighting from an infielder on this list. Here Orlando Arcia travels 116 feet into short left field to grab this pop up from Max Muncy. The Braves were playing Muncy to pull with Arcia positioned close to the second base bag, which makes this play more impressive.
T-6. Eddie Rosario 116 feet (October 1 vs. Washington)
This play by Eddie Rosario looks pretty routine as he had plenty of time to cover the 116 feet needed to make this play.
5. Eddie Rosario 119 feet (June 25 at Cincinnati)
Almost a copy of the play before, but this time Rosario’s route isn’t great and he has to drift back towards the wall at the end before making the catch.
4. Eddie Rosario 120 feet (June 30 vs. Miami)
Another play by Rosario who has to go 120 feet and make the play with a slide right down the line in left. Rosario had a sprint speed of 28.6 feet per second on the play.
3. Ronald Acuña Jr. 124 feet (April 11 vs. Cincinnati)
Here Acuña was playing off the line and had to go 124 feet to make the play on this pop out by Jose Barrero. Acuña again didn’t get a good jump, but used his 29.6 feet per second sprint speed to make up the difference.
2. Eddie Rosario 125 feet (October 1 vs Washington)
The No. 2 play on our list goes to Rosario who makes another sliding grab down the left field line for the out.
1. Michael Harris 130 feet (May 13 at Toronto)
Michael Harris takes the top spot with this play that looks relatively normal which speaks to his defensive ability. Here he is shaded towards right center and travels 130 feet into shallow left center to make the grab.