Would Anthony Volpe's fan-interfered fly ball have been a home run? Here's what MLB and Statcast have to say
· Fox News
The New York Yankees' season ended in embarrassing fashion on Wednesday night, getting swept on their home field by their AL East rival Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series.
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The Bombers fell, 4-3, to the Rays, but there may be an argument that the game should have been tied at four after Anthony Volpe's fan-interfered fly ball in the sixth inning.
With George Lombard on first and two outs, the Yankees infielder hit a fly ball into left field that kept carrying toward the outfield wall. The ball went into the seats, and umpires initially called it a game-tying home run, but upon replay review, it was turned it into an RBI double instead after an angle clearly showed a fan reach over the wall (he was eventually booted from the ballpark). Spencer Jones struck out to end the threat, and the Yankees would not score again.
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"After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught," MLB's Replay Center said in a statement shortly after the occasion, via the New York Post.
However, MLB's Statcast initially said otherwise.
Volpe hit his ball 357 feet with an exit velocity of 97.9 mph and a 42-degree launch angle. In normal cases, it's an easy flyout, as it had an expected batting average of .060). However, Statcast originally said that the trajectory of the ball would have led to a home run in 13 ballparks, including Yankee Stadium.
But as of Thursday morning, Yankee Stadium is no longer included in stadiums where the ball flight would have been a homer.
Sportsball, perhaps ironically, released a video on X Wednesday morning explaining how Statcast uses 12 Hawkeye cameras in each ballpark to determine home-run distances "within about a foot."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the umpires "did a good job" on their call.
"When he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something, I wasn't sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing. I thought they got it right," Boone said.
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"Just seeing it through the replay and hoping for the best. But, crazy," Volpe added.
So, replay shows it very likely would have came up short, Statcast apparently changed its mind, and Major League Baseball says it undoubtedly would have been short.
In any case, it can be argued that no one definitively knows whether Volpe's fly ball would have been gone, and a Yankee fan may or may not have robbed his own favorite team at a chance of a postseason comeback.