The Los Angeles Angels are having a rough year as the team appears to be well on the way to missing the playoffs for the ninth straight season despite having stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the lineup, but at least their Triple-A affiliate team, the Salt Lake Bees, is generating some positive headlines for the organization.
Over the weekend, the Bees’ middle infield teamed up to give us what might be the defensive play of the year across all of baseball, with one player smoothly flipping the ball to another, who caught it with his bare hand before throwing the runner out at first base.
hey @SportsCenter is this Top 10 worthy?😏 pic.twitter.com/E7l7JapUKy
— Salt Lake Bees (@SaltLakeBees) July 24, 2022
One of the players involved in the incredible play actually has plenty of Major League Baseball experience as Angels infielder David Fletcher was with the team for Saturday’s game on a rehab assignment after undergoing surgery in May. He was the player catching the ball and throwing it to first base.
The smooth and impressive play went viral – for good reason – and caught the attention of the baseball world, which offered its glowing reviews.
Unreal play by the Salt Lake Bees 👏pic.twitter.com/aMzFwvfIHU
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) July 24, 2022
Checking in on David Fletcher (the middle guy in this play) in his rehab assignment tonight. https://t.co/tXz49l439K
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) July 24, 2022
So yummy. So smooth. https://t.co/BdwKxPHFcI
— Lucho (@EchelonCopy) July 25, 2022
This was pretty smooth… pic.twitter.com/bwxZL7sQg9
— sounds like Badge-in-Arrow (@jeffbajenaru) July 24, 2022
https://t.co/t7uGKVg3CT pic.twitter.com/sf4XfNlDOd
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) July 24, 2022
https://twitter.com/kungfusquirrel/status/1551255946428420097?s=20&t=KZAglVYx05CEgyds5UaXZQ
The impressive play helped spur the Bees to victory as the team notched a 5-3 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
