Manny Machado proves no batter is safe when they hit a ball to him
A warning to all opposing hitters: Don’t hit the ball anywhere near Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado. His two gold gloves should have made that clear already, but we still feel you need the reminder. And yes, hitting is hard, and sometimes these things are inevitable. But if you want to get on base, consider avoiding Machado at all costs.
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The 23-year-old defensive stud proved as much Sunday in a spring game against the Tampa Bay Rays. With two outs in the fourth inning, Rene Rivera hit a bouncer toward Machado at third. Machado ranged to his right, snagged the ball while running into foul territory and unleashed a ridiculous throw to nab Rivera at first.
As always, some will look at the play and say they are not impressed, but let’s consider a few things here. Machado makes this look incredibly easy. There’s hardly any effort involved on his end, even though it’s a spectacular play. It just looks like something he’s capable of doing all the time.
On top of that, look at that throw. Machado has to fire the ball a long way, and he just casually flips it across the diamond. Again, he makes this look easy when, in fact, it’s probably a throw fewer than five percent of major leaguers could make. Think about how much arm strength Machado displays here. There’s no elaborate windup to the throw, he just tosses the ball across his body as he’s moving away from first base. It’s incredible.
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None of this matters, of course, because it happened during a spring game. But the regular season is approaching quickly. And while we’re starting to get impatient, it’s plays like this that keep us going until real baseball begins. Soon, all of this will matter.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
