TORONTO -- This four-game set between the Athletics and the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre is doubling as an Appreciation Series for Toronto native Denzel Clarke, who expects between 150-200 friends and family members over the four days to watch him play in Canada for the first time as a big leaguer.
On Day Two, Clarke decided to put on a show for his hometown.
The A’s No. 5 prospect made a spectacular home run robbery during the fourth inning of Friday’s 11-7 loss to the Blue Jays, climbing the center-field wall just to the left of the 400-foot mark for a perfectly timed leap to bring back a Statcast-projected 407-foot drive hit by Alejandro Kirk, which would have been a homer in 11 of 30 Major League ballparks.
According to Statcast, Clarke covered 86 feet at a speed of 25.3 feet per second to make the catch at the wall.
After landing back on the surface, Clarke fired the ball back to the infield and raised his right index finger at left fielder Drew Avans to his right and then at right fielder Lawrence Butler to his left to signal the first out. He then calmly turned around to catch a glimpse of his highlight-reel play on the big screen.
“I was trying to just check it out,” Clarke said. “I always love seeing if my route was good or if I timed it up well. Everything came together on that catch, so I was super happy about it.”
On the mound, reliever Mitch Spence placed both hands over his head with a look of disbelief, while the visitors’ dugout beyond the first-base line collectively exploded with a rousing ovation.
“It was probably one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen,” Spence said. “After I gave up that hit, I was kind of like, ‘Oh, crap.’ Then I look up, and I see Spider-Man up the wall. It was pretty incredible. It shows how great of an athlete he is out there. I gave him a big hug in the dugout.”
Clarke’s catch even left manager Mark Kotsay, who knows a thing or two about playing the position after 17 big league seasons as an outfielder, with his jaw dropped to the floor.
“Climbing the wall and timing it to make it look almost routine is pretty insane,” Kotsay said. “His defense was on display again.”
As crazy as it may sound, Friday’s defensive gem might not have even been Clarke’s best catch this year. Spence referenced a catch made by Clarke in a game between the A’s and D-backs at Las Vegas Ballpark during Spring Training, when the center fielder made a similar leap at the wall to take back a would-be homer.
“He’s as advertised,” Spence said. “He’s going to make some unbelievable plays out there. As a pitcher, that’s exactly what you want.”
The epic catch was one of two impressive grabs on the night. Clarke also made a leaping grab at the wall in right-center in the third on a ball struck by George Springer a Statcast-projected 393 feet. Like Kirk’s drive, Springer's fly ball also carried an expected batting average (xBA) of .770.
Defense wasn’t all that was on display for Clarke. He helped spark a two-run fifth inning for the A’s with a one-out single to right off Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt, then tallied his first Major League RBI in the ninth with a single.
Considering Clarke’s struggles at the plate – he entered Friday 1-for-19 with 15 strikeouts to start his big league career – a two-hit night is perhaps even more encouraging than the defense, which the A’s scouting department had already rated as Gold Glove-caliber.
“He’s been working hard over the last couple of days to make adjustments,” Kotsay said. “You saw that tonight. His stance was a little wider. He was more on time and aggressive in his approach. All those things aligned with a couple of nice at-bats.”
For the A’s as a whole, they’ll hope Friday’s ninth-inning rally can provide some momentum to help break out of this dreadful stretch. They have now lost 15 of their past 16 games, marking the first time they have recorded just one win over a stretch of more than 15 games since losing 16 of 17 from April 19 to May 6, 1994.