The Blue Jays gloves are literally falling apart
The hard-hitting Toronto Blue Jays don’t have a lot of weaknesses. One that’s clearly standing out though actually has nothing to do with their talent, but rather their equipment. As in, their fielding gloves are quite literally falling apart and letting them down, which is exactly what happened again on Friday.
In the ninth inning of Toronto’s 5-2 win against the Dodgers, reliever Drew Storen fired a 91-mph sinker that actually broke through Russell Martin’s catcher’s mitt.
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Granted, any 91-mph pitch has to have some serious steam behind it, but a 91-mph sinker is not a pitch you picture breaking through a mitt. An Aroldis Chapman 104-mph fastball? Now we’re talking. Catching Noah Syndergaard on a regular basis? That also sounds like a good recipe for a broken glove. A 91-mph sinker? Not so much.
Martin’s mitt actually continued a concerning trend within the Blue Jays. It’s now at least the third different glove to require attention after breaking down during a game.
First, we take you back to early April, where Troy Tulowitzki’s nearly eight-year-old glove appeared to be on its last legs.
The webbing actually tore open on Logan Forsythe grounder, seemingly indicating the end of the road for Tulo’s glove. However, it was saved by the Jays equipment manager and it’s now back in use.
[Elsewhere: Check out where Giancarlo Stanton’s game-winning homer landed]
The other incident happened two weeks ago when Baltimore’s Joey Rickard ripped a line drive right through third baseman Josh Donaldson’s glove. Rickard was credited with an infield hit, while Donaldson was forced to call in the back up.
The old ball through the glove routine is something we see a handful of times each season. Maybe once a month on average. It’s a rarity, but it does happen because gloves aren’t built to last forever. There’s expiration date on all of them, but it is quite strange that it’s already happened three times to the Blue Jays.
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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
