Glove story
Once upon a time a love affair evolved between Jake Marisnick and his leather extension, and together they have made the impossible become commonplace in the vast recesses of center field.
It is a time when baseball, again, is obsessed with home runs.
It is an era devoted to launch angles, exit velocity and game-changing power.
And in the month that was just completed, more homers were hit than during any other month in Major League Baseball history.
Maybe that is why there is more power than ever in the pure simplicity of an outfielder and his glove. Or maybe we just know the beauty of baseball when we see it.
Jake Marisnick’s full-body diving catches. His range, speed and precision. Saving runs. Creating outs. His eyes watching, his brain instantly reacting and his glove — a worn and creased black Rawlings, with his name stitched on the outside in orange —opening up, then just as quickly collapsing as another falling baseball is collected.
“It’s something in an uncontrollable game that you can control,” said the 28year-old Marisnick, who is on pace for a career year, seven seasons into his MLB life. “It’s the effort level. It’s caring about your pitcher, caring about your teammates, caring about keeping runs off the board. It has come natural to me, but it’s something that I take pride in.”
The Astros swear that Marisnick would win a Gold Glove if he played every day. With George Springer hurt again and multiple stars on A.J. Hinch’s team stuck on the injured list, the 6-4, 220-pound Marisnick finally has become a consistent name in the daily lineup.
The bat still comes and goes. He’s a .229 career hitter who entered Saturday with a .266 average, .856 OPS, six home runs, 15 RBIs and 20 runs in 46 games this season, yet was just 8-for-42 in the last 15 days.
The glove?
That sweet black-and-orange defensive weapon has kept Marisnick in the Astros’ organization since 2014, guided the exMiami Marlin to a 2017 world championship ring and allowed Marisnick to overcome a 2018 campaign when he hit just .211 in the majors and spent 21 combined games at Class AAA and AA.
You buy a ticket to watch Justin Verlander put up zeroes.
You change the channel to proudly see Alex Bregman, Gerrit Cole and the 38-20 Astros on your TV.
But when you follow this first-place team in 2019 — again a serious World Series contender; overcoming constant injuries with recent minor-league names — you’re also waiting for Marisnick to make another brilliant, ridiculous catch.
Defense can still have as much awesome power as offense.
“If you combine his skill with his knowledge, his experience at this point, you get those types of catches that we’ve been seeing this year, almost on a nightly basis,” said Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, who first watched Marisnick as a high school prospect in Riverside, Calif. “Those catches are not even close to being made by other players, so you don’t realize how good they are.”
Attention to detail
The Chicago Cubs were up 3-1 in the third inning. Two outs, runner on first, rookie Corbin Martin struggling through his fourth career start. Jason Heyward in the box, facing a 1-1 count on a Tuesday night inside Minute Maid Park when Garrett Stubbs is making his MLB debut as the Astros’ catcher and Jack Mayfield is playing in his second career game.
Video preparation. Defensive positioning. Swing path memory. Spin tendencies — top, back, side. A sudden, telling sound.
Get low. Stay on your legs. Attack. “There’s a lot of things that people don’t think about, like sound,” said Marisnick, who grew up admiring former AllStar outfielder Torii Hunter and credited third-base coach Gary Pettis for his outfield development with the Astros. “I’ve talked to a few younger outfielders about it. If you’re playing in a stadium where there’s not a lot of noise, you can listen to the crack of the bat.”
All that and so much more is swirling inside Marisnick’s head. Then Martin fires a 96 mph fastball low and inside, Heyward connects and Marisnick sprints in from center field.
“We were shading him a little bit the other way there. Just looking to stay on it,” Marisnick said. “A lot of lefties have a little bit of fade. Just kind of some quick notes you take before he comes up to hit.”
It’s another Cubs hit and more early damage. The ball keeps dropping, Anthony Rizzo runs toward second base and … Marisnick’s glove. Again.
“He looks like a gazelle out there,” teammate Tony Kemp said. “Once he gets his legs going, he tracks that ball really well.”
Marisnick glides from center to leftcenter. He leaps forward and downward at the final second, sliding across the grass, surrounding the ball with his glove and then pops up and sprints away, like nothing happened.
Catch probability: 40 percent.
Distance needed: 54 feet.
Opportunity time: 3.6 seconds. A booming voice on the TV: “Jake on the move! He’s almost automatic on those plays!”
A golden out. The inning over. Four runs for the Astros in the bottom of the next frame, then a 9-6 victory for Hinch’s 500th career win.
“It’s more of when a (football wide) receiver makes a great catch. It’s just such an artful, athletic display, and he’s the only one in the league,” Cole said. “You watch a one-of-one do his thing and that’s, regardless of the sport, it’s pretty fun to watch.”
‘You’re always learning’
Yuli Gurriel bobbleheads, stacked up cleats, caps and T-shirts rest inside Marisnick’s locker, which follows Josh Reddick’s, Michael Brantley’s and Springer’s in a row.
Marisnick reaches in and pulls out his glove. Beneath his name stitched in orange, four small stickers that resemble bull’s-eye targets.
“These are kind of a way to slow your mind down,” Marisnick said.
Kemp walks by, jokingly reminding his teammate not to freely give his secrets away.
“The amazing thing about this game is you’re always learning,” Marisnick said. “Nobody ever knows everything or has all the right answers.”
Hinch breaks down the attributes of his outfielder’s art.
Improved first step. Sudden top speed, which leads to extended range. Elite athleticism and quick reads, allowing Marisnick to play more shallow than most.
“It’s like Mike Trout with an 80 arm,” said Cole, who believes Marisnick is making more highlight reels because consistent playing time creates defensive rhythm and timing.
There’s also a life/baseball lesson contained within all the diving and leaping catches, as Marisnick consistently sells out in the attempt for one more out.
“We love the running catches by Reddick or the diving plays by Marisnick or the range that Springer shows. I think that comes with never giving up on the play,” Hinch said. “It’s something that’s a staple in Gary’s program. You’d be surprised at how many plays you can make if you just continue the play, finish the play. That seems to be a huge part of our outfield defense.”
A human highlight reel
Captions for highlight videos on MLB’s official website capture it all.
“Marisnick makes all-out diving catch in 5th.”
“Marisnick makes running basket catch.”
“Marisnick makes running catch, turns DP.”
The man who made them all is asked if he has a personal favorite.
A couple stand out. Yet it’s said in such a humble, low-key tone that you wonder where all the athletic confidence comes from.
“The Tal’s Hill one was cool,” Marisnick said. “There’s one when (Evan) Gattis was playing left field in Boston, against the Monster.”
I mention a crazy one last June against Toronto inside Minute Maid with Charlie Morton on the mound. A ball rocketing toward the wall in left-center field. Marisnick perfectly timing his jump, leaping upward, planting his non-glove hand on the fence and then ripping the ball away from the fence, looking more like a dunking Michael Jordan than an MLB outfielder.
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Marisnick said. “That was a good one.”
What’s that moment feel like? Doing what so few can do. Pausing time, just to fly, leap or dive.
“I feel good, obviously,” he said. “I get a chance to save some runs and help the team, help that guy out on the mound.”
Then Marisnick picked up his glove and was gone.
Another game. Another start for the Astros. More outs, just waiting to find his black-and-orange glove.
“I want him to keep hitting so that he can get the Gold Glove,” Cole said. “He’s the best center fielder in the game.”
A glove compartment to Jake Marisnick is a place to store catches others can’t make