Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano may only have five major league games under his belt, but it’s hard to imagine how he’ll be able to improve on the chart-topping double play throw he delivered during Saturday’s 7-0 shutout against the Angels.
In the third inning, with two outs and Eric Young Jr. on first base, Justin Upton sent a line drive into center field. Laureano snared the ball and fired a perfect throw to first baseman Mark Canha, who doubled Young off the base and brought the inning to a close.
The brilliance of the play is in the details: According to Statcast, it took Laureano just 4.4 seconds to cover 76 feet and make the initial catch. He returned the ball with a 91.2-MPH, 321-foot laser to Canha; both the pinpoint accuracy of his throw and Young’s 90-foot sprint from second base back to first culminated in the highlight reel-worthy play.
Following the game, Laureano revealed that he hadn’t even considered hitting the cutoff man on the throw -- not if he was going to have a chance of beating Young back to the bag.
“It was a crazy play, a crazy moment,” he told reporters. “I was shocked. It’s kind of like I just caught it and I’m like, ‘Damn, I’m the only one that has a shot I guess,’ so I just threw it.”
