The St. Louis Cardinals appear on the verge of avoiding a sweep on Wednesday afternoon against the New York Mets.
In a game that has shown us everything from blown leads to hit batsmen, the Cards are up 10-5 in the eighth inning at the moment of writing this article.
When the game was 8-4, in the sixth inning, Cardinals center fielder Dylan Carlson avoided an extra base hit by showing off his cannon.
Luis Guillorme hit a long drive to center field that went over Carlson, who looked a bit lost on the fielding play – perhaps the sun was affecting him – but was quick to recover and grab the ball after it bounced near the warning track.
Guillorme was sprinting towards third base when Carlson threw the ball there: a missile clocked at more than 97 miles per hour.
THROW OF THE YEAR?! pic.twitter.com/zm6vWMDUxn
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 27, 2022
The Throw Of The Season So Far
That’s some elite velocity right there: many pitchers would love to have that kind of throwing arm.
Carlson’s throw made it to the base in time to nab the runner and end the threat that a runner in scoring position would represent.
You could say that Carlson had an important contribution in preserving the lead for St. Louis.
The talented outfielder is not having the best start of the season in 2022, with a .194/.246/.242 line in the early going.
However, he is good enough to contribute more than just his hitting numbers.
He may not be the best fielder, but his throwing arm, as you could see, is truly elite.
Eventually, he should be able to regain his rhythm and hit: he had a .780 OPS and 18 home runs last season, for example.
But he is finding ways to help the Cardinals in the meantime, and that’s all that matters.
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