Bryan Reynolds isn’t the fastest guy on the team, but what Rays shortstop Wander Franco did, throwing out the Pirates’ outfield was disrespectful.
You’ve seen the bat flip, but Franco pull a ball flip during Wednesday night’s 8-1 Rays win.
Franco took a ball hit by Reynolds at over 103 mph near second, gloved it and then put the ball in his right hand, flipping it up in the air with some backspin before throwing on to first, to get Reynolds in plenty of time.
Franco had a great day at the plate as well, going 2-for-5 with two RBI and a home run.
MLB.com reports that Franco talked about the play after the game through his interpreter.
“I mess around in practice. Sometimes I tend to do that at practice,” Franco said through Manny Navarro. “Through instincts, I think it just happened.”