Kevin Kiermaier’s memorable 2015 catch immortalized in painting
Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer loves having great defenders playing behind him so much so that he’s willing to go out of his way to prove it to them.
Archer presented outfielder Kevin Kiermaier with a commissioned painting on Friday morning at the team’s spring training headquarters in honor of Kiermaier’s Gold Glove winning season in 2015. The painting depicts Kiermaier leaping high above the wall in center field to rob Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado of a home run in one of the more memorable defensive plays of last season.
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The play happened in a 6-3 Tampa Bay victory on Aug. 31 and Archer earned his 12th win of the season in the game. So it’s no wonder Archer was the man to present Kiermaier with the painting.
Kiermaier finished last season with a .988 fielding percentage committing just five errors in 1,1882/3 innings. He also recorded 15 assists with 412 putouts in 432 chances. He makes a lot of plays look routine and also has the ability to make plays a lot of outfielders just can’t, such as the catch depicted in the painting.
The painting is by John Reynolds, a Sarasota-based artist who is also an architect and a drawing and painting teacher.
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It’s not the first time this spring Archer has shown great leadership skills in interactions with his teammates. He called out two young pitchers on the first day of camp for showing up later than he believed they should, even though they weren’t technically late for any team functions.
Archer clearly seems to be the go-to guy in the Rays’ clubhouse and it’s a safe bet Kiermaier isn’t far behind.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
