Andrew Benintendi used to practice wall-scaling catches on his living room couch as a kid. On Monday, for one at-bat, he made Tropicana Field his home.
Benintendi, the 22-year-old Red Sox outfielder with all of 19 major-league games under his belt, made what could be the catch of the year when he chased down and robbed Steven Souza's would-be two-run shot to left field during the eighth inning of Boston's 6-2 win over the Rays.
"That was the best one by far," Benitendi, who had just moved from center to left field to begin the inning, told Rob Bradford of WEEI. "I've never had a chance to do that. It's something I’ve talked about doing but never got the chance. It was fun to do."
The rookie's highlight-reel grab caught the attention of Statcast, which tracked his route efficiency at 95.3 percent over a distance traveled of 92 feet. His first step took 0.53 seconds and he reached a max speed of 16.3 mph.
"There's a reason why he's running in and getting in the position," David Ortiz told WEEI. "When you do that as a young player, that means you're special."
(Video courtesy: MLB.com)