Jacob Young may not be the Washington Nationals‘ long-term answer in center field. But if the team wants to eventually supplant him with Dylan Crews or perhaps move CJ Abrams there, management may have to take the position away from his cold, limp glove.
Young demonstrated once again that he’s one of the best defensive center fielders in Major League Baseball, and certainly the flashiest, with a highlight grab during the Nationals’ matchup with the Miami Marlins on Sunday.
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In the third inning, Marlins outfielder Heriberto Hernández crushed a hanging slider from Jackson Kent deep to left-center field at loanDepot Park. Hernández’s drive looked like a home run, if not at least a run-scoring extra-base hit.
But Young ranged over, judged his distance from the outfield wall and timed a jump perfectly. Doing his best Spider-Man impersonation, he climbed the wall to reach up and snare Hernández’s fly ball for a spectacular catch.
Young followed up the catch by doubling Otto Lopez off at first base. Understandably, the Marlins shortstop thought the play would either be a home run or a ball that Young wouldn’t get to in center field. Lopez was at third base as Young made a relay throw back to the infield for an easy out.
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“Catch of the year, baby!” yelled Nationals TV analyst Kevin Frandsen, who preceded that proclamation with screams of delight.
Few would likely argue with Frandsen’s assessment. Alternate camera angles showed that Young probably didn’t rob Hernández of a home run with the ball set to land below the top of the wall.
But that takes nothing away from the ground he had to cover running from straight-away center field to the wall in left-center. And he still had to time his jump to scale the wall and reach up for the catch. Without that, Young doesn’t get to the ball.
Young, 27, routinely grades out by advanced metrics as one of the five best defensive center fielders in baseball. This season, he’s credited with 1 Defensive Run Saved and 12 Outs Above Average. He ranks third among MLB center fielders in the latter category and fourth with a 7.6 Defensive WAR.
Fans have likely drawn the same conclusion just by watching him play. Young made national news highlight packages last season with two memorable catches in a 3-2 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field on Sept. 21, 2025.
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The first grab was made after Young dropped a deep drive to center by Brett Baty before kicking the ball while it was still in the air and catching it before it hit the ground. Young went over to left-center in the ninth inning to rob Francisco Alvarez of a game-tying home run with a leaping catch at the outfield wall. That one looked familiar.
Young’s glove and defensive range is certainly enough to keep him in center field. If he gets moved off the position for any reason, it would be his bat. Though he’s not exactly a slouch offensively with a .246/.312/.395 slash line, 16 doubles, 10 home runs, 43 RBI and 14 stolen bases.
He’s also under club control through 2029 with three seasons of arbitration eligibility, an extremely valuable resource for a Nationals team that is still in rebuilding mode.
