UCF’s JoMarcos Woods has first Catch of the Year candidate

Despite spring training opening for a handful of teams on Wednesday, we’re still several days away from Cactus and Grapefruit League games getting underway. However, as most baseball starved fans know, the college season has been in full swing since the weekend, and with that comes the possibility of seeing on those special defensive plays we all long for during the winter break. during.  

On Wednesday, we saw one of those plays. 

During the seventh inning of Central Florida’s 10-2 victory over Bethune-Cookman. UCF center fielder JoMarcos Woods made a diving grab that quite honestly could hold up as a Catch of the Year contender.

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For comparison’s sake, we’re going to call it a full-scale Jim Edmonds. The former eight-time Gold Glove center fielder — most notably for the Angels, Cardinals and Cubs — made a career of sacrificing his body to make unlikely, sometimes impossible looking diving grabs. Woods showed the necessary lack of regard for his own personal health to qualify, and he also added the full-extension dive, which is the cherry on top of a webgem sundae.

Here’s another look.  

Simply ridiculous.

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There’s actually another layer of greatness to this catch as well, and that’s the forward thinking of UCF head coach Terry Rooney. Just one inning earlier, Rooney inserted Woods as a defensive replacement with his team holding a big lead. It was a strategic move, obviously, and though his team was not likely to be threatened, the switch paid off quite nicely. 

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813