Moreno's double for Bisons sticks the landing
Top-ranked Blue Jays prospect Gabriel Moreno has climbed the Minor League ladder -- and earned a Major League callup earlier this year -- on the strength of, well, just that -- his power. But the feat he pulled off on Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo likely can't be contained by the
Top-ranked Blue Jays prospect Gabriel Moreno has climbed the Minor League ladder -- and earned a Major League callup earlier this year -- on the strength of, well, just that -- his power. But the feat he pulled off on Wednesday for Triple-A Buffalo likely can't be contained by the 20-80 scouting scale.
At the plate in the bottom of the ninth against Lehigh Valley, Moreno ripped a 2-0 pitch from Francisco Morales that surely was headed for extra bases off the wall in left field ... except the ball never bounced off the wall. Moreno's liner ended up lodged in the padding as Iron Pigs left fielder Chris Sharpe threw his hands up, a sentiment that was surely shared by many in the ballpark.
Excuse us... WHAT!?!?!
— Buffalo Bisons🦬 (@BuffaloBisons) August 18, 2022
Gabriel Moreno hit this ball so hard it stuck IN the wall! 🤯🤯🤯 @BlueJays | #NextLevel pic.twitter.com/myIz7bNTmu
Moreno reached third base before the the umpire crew sent him back to second on a ground-rule double, the appropriate call in accordance with baseball rule 5.05(a)(7). Sharpe made one attempt to dislodge the ball from its perch but was unsuccessful.
The play, while quirky, occasionally happens at the Major League level. However, most of those occurrences involve a chain-link fence or a gap between panels of padding. Moreno's liner clearly had a mind of its own, disregarding what otherwise appears to be a normal segment of the Sahlen Field wall in left.