© Junfu Han/Imagn
Close down the voting. Boston Red Sox outfielders Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu have already secured the catch of the season in Major League Baseball at the expense of Detroit Tigers slugger Kerry Carpenter. And despite Detroit going on to win the game in walk-off fashion, the catch just might go down as one of the best all-time.
The play in question occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning with the game tied at 5-5. Red Sox reliever Liam Hendrick threw a first-pitch fastball that Carpenter ambushed, sending it deep into right field and over the wall. But Abreu used all of his 6-foot frame to leap up and snag the ball, only for it to pop out of his glove, back into play, and into the waiting glove of teammate Rafeala.
ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!
WILYER & CEDDANNE MAKE UNBELIEVABLE GRAB. pic.twitter.com/8WEKwRRay9
— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 15, 2025
Boston Red Sox Outfield Combine For Insane Catch That Hadn’t Happened In 22 Years
The play officially goes down in the scorebook at a 9-8 flyout, which Elias Sports says last happened on Sep. 14, 2003 when Twins right fielder Michael Ryan lost a Jhonny Peralta fly ball in the sun in a game against the Cleveland Guardians. The ball slammed off Ryan’s face and was caught by center fielder Dustan Mohr.
This time around, things weren’t quite so painful for Abreu.
“I didn’t know where the ball was going to land,” said Rafaela. “I was trying to go for it, but I saw Wily, and he was under the ball already, I was just there if it hit the wall or something. And then I saw it [deflect], and I stuck my hand in there.”
Hendriks, who kept the ball from the play, said he was stunned by how the play went down.
“I was like, ‘Oh, crap,’ and then I saw Wily drifting back, and I was like, ‘Oh, maybe he’s got a chance.’ I didn’t think it was that chance,” he said.
It was, in fact, that chance. And now Rafaela and Abreu have secured their places in baseball lore with an all-time great play.