Rangers Center Fielder Leody Taveras Made a Catch So Good It Broke an Advanced Statistic

Taveras’s home run robbery against Yordan Alvarez was truly improbable.

Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras robbed Astros’ Yordan Alvarez of a home run during Wednesday’s ALCS Game 3, showcasing his stunning range in the outfield to bring back a ball that looked destined for the seats.

Alvarez absolutely crushed the baseball, hitting it 111.1 mph off the bat as it traveled 416 feet with a 25-degree launch angle. Somehow, Taveras was still able to commit one of the most electric postseason home run robberies in recent memory.

This hit would have been a home run in 22 of 30 major league ballparks, but Taveras found a way to snag it from over the fence.

The angle on this catch >>> #ALCS pic.twitter.com/l2uOd3Urci

— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2023

His catch was so impressive that it effectively defied one of baseball’s advanced metrics, xBA, or expected batting average. 

According to Baseball Savant, the xBA on Alvarez’s hit was 1.000. Essentially, every other past comparable hit, in terms of factors such as exit velocity and launch angle, during the Statcast era (since 2015) has resulted in a hit, until Alvarez’s. 

the expected batting average on that Alvarez ball that Taveras robbed is 1.000 pic.twitter.com/moqVXwbgr8

— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) October 19, 2023

Taveras’s robbery in center field denied Alvarez of a hit on a batted ball profile that had never once produced an out during the past eight seasons. 

Although this isn’t the first instance of a ball with an xBA of 1.000 resulting in an out, it’s certainly a rarity.

MLB fans were absolutely stunned by Taveras’s jaw-dropping defensive highlight in center field, which kept Texas within striking distance in Game 3. 

Yordan Alvarez's ball that Leody Taveras robbed had a 1.000 xBA, according to Baseball Savant. Left his bat at 111.1 mph.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) October 19, 2023

Baseball Savant forgot to account for the existence of Leody Taveras pic.twitter.com/yT6I3pwJKP

— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) October 19, 2023

Yordan Alvarez hit this ball 416 feet.

It had an exit velocity of 111.1 MPH.

1.000 xBA. Would’ve been a HR in 22/30 ballparks.

Leody Taveras commits HIGHWAY ROBBERY. pic.twitter.com/CB6IYIx0sF

— Barreldelphia Media (@barreldelphia) October 19, 2023

the ball Leody caught was hit 111.1 MPH and had an xBA of 1.000. literally an impossible catch

— man raven 🇵🇸 (@SnackPr0tein) October 19, 2023