The day after pulling off two spectacular catches in center field at Citi Field, Young made it a defensive trifecta on Monday night at Truist Park.
“It’s just one of those things where instincts kick in,” said Young, a 2024 Gold Glove Award finalist. “Trust being an athlete and see what happens.”
In the fifth inning of the Nationals’ 11-5 loss to the Braves, Young charged in to catch a sharp line drive hit by Ha-Seong Kim off Sauryn Lao. As Young scooped the ball in toward himself, it popped out of his glove. In a split second, Young snagged the ball with his throwing hand to secure the out.
“It knuckled on me a little bit and started working back toward my body,” Young said. “It just kind of hit me in the thumb and rolled up. I’d rather not keep on doing this; I’d rather catch it the first time. But luckily, I was able to get a glove on it.”
“I think if anyone’s ever kind of been in that moment, it looks probably really fast,” Young said. “But in our heads, it’s really moving slow as you’re doing all those things. It feels like the ball is kind of knocked out of your glove, it feels like it’s in the air forever to come back down.”
Young grabbed the attention of the sports world by using quick-thinking footwork to kick the ball into his glove to rob Brett Baty on Sunday. Then, he silenced the Mets home crowd with a ninth-inning home run robbery against Francisco Alvarez at the wall.