Photo:Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire

“I’m glad we have a 6-foot-8 guy out there catching balls.”

That’s a postgame quote from Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes, who may have exaggerated Aaron Judge’s height by an inch, but there was no exaggerating the impressiveness of Judge’s home run-robbing catch and subsequent double play against Andrés Chaparro of the Nationals on Monday night.

“That was crazy,” said Yankees catcher Austin Wells.

As for Judge, he simply said, “I was just trying to go out there and make a play,” noting that he was trying to match the energy of teammate Alex Verdugo, who made a nice catch earlier in the game.

Judge’s play brings to mind this unusual distinction. Since the start of the 2018 season, when he made his first homer-robbing catch, he is both the major league leader in home runs with 252 AND home run-robbing catches with 9.

If we go back to 2016, Judge’s debut season, he leads the majors in home runs (308) and is tied with Lorenzo Cain for the most homer-robbing catches with those 9.

But it wasn’t the only highly-impressive home run robbery this week. Brewers center fielder Blake Perkins reached well over the fence in left center field to snag a would-be home run from Thairo Estrada of the Giants on Tuesday.

For Perkins, it was his 4th home run-robbing catch of the season. That’s one shy of the most in a season since we began tracking every one in 2004. The mark is currently shared by Brewers center fielders Carlos Gómez (2013) and Cain (2019), as well as Astros right fielder Josh Reddick (2019).

“This is my work,” Perkins told reporters after the game. “I’m just trying to do my best to stay aggressive out there and work for my guys on the mound.”

Gómez and Cain also show up on another list, players with the most home run robberies since 2004. Mike Trout leads the way with 14. Gómez is second with 13 and is followed by Torii Hunter (12), Cain (11), Adam Jones (11), and Ichiro Suzuki (10).

The Brewers, who lead MLB with 8 home run robberies this season, are one of five teams with at least 50 home run robberies in the home run robbery tracking era. The team leaderboard since 2004 is Angels (63), Tigers (63), Orioles (55), White Sox (54), Brewers (50).

Immediately after Perkins’ home run robbery, the next batter, Grant McCray, hit a home run.

It was the first “potential HR is robbed, next batter in inning hits a homer” in MLB in 2024. It’s happened at least once a year from 2016 to 2024 with the exception of 2020 and 2021.

The one other time the Brewers were involved was against the Twins on July 4, 2018. Center fielder Keon Broxton made a catch on Brian Dozier that was as good as Perkins’ and then the next batter, Eduardo Escobar, homered.

It’s one of those things that seems extraordinarily unusual but isn’t necessarily so. It happened four times in 2023.

Most Home Run-Robbing Catches – Since 2004

Regular Season