Jake Faria saved his own life on Tuesday night when one of the strongest men in baseball Aaron Judge smacked a pitch right towards him. Faria instinctively moved his head away from the pitch’s path and lifted his glove in an act of self-defense. The ball travelling at 175 km/h (109 mph) landed in the rubber and created a highlight reel.
The moment happened during the third inning of Tuesday’s Yankees-Rays game. Jake Faria threw a 150 km/h fastball (94 mph) and Judge returned it at an even higher speed. It was a scary moment which could’ve ended in disaster if it weren’t for the pitcher’s fantastic reaction time.
“I threw my hands up to get my head out of the way, and the ball went into my glove,”
“[I’ve] never seen anything that hard coming at my face before.”
109 mph off the bat. 😳
What. A. Catch. pic.twitter.com/P3Hc87TXfM
— MLB (@MLB) September 26, 2018
As you would expect, there was quite a bit of luck involved in the catch, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing to watch. It is probably one of the best 15-second replays of this MLB season.
What to make of Jake Faria?
It was the best moment in an otherwise frustrating night for the Rays pitcher, who was lifted after only 2 1/3 innings. He took some positives from it, though.
“It didn’t end ideally, but I can at least go into whatever comes after this knowing I felt pretty good physically and had a pretty good feeling for what I was doing out there,”
Tampa Bay gave up seven runs in the third and ended up losing 9-2.
It was Faria’s first start since being activated from the disabled list at the beginning of the month. The Rays were formally eliminated from playoff contention on Monday and turned their focus on assessing some of the issues which plagued the team over the course of the season. One of those issues is what to make of Jake Faria. The 25-year-old impressed in his 2017 debut. There were high hopes for him heading into the new season, but injuries and ineffectiveness landed him back in the minors for a while. He currently holds a 5.40 ERA, far from what’s required to be in an MLB starting rotation.
