Rays have a 10th man on the field deserving of Gold Glove

April 18th, 2024

Rawlings may have to start handing out Gold Glove Awards for ballboys and ballgirls. The way the Rays' ballboys have been flashing the leather lately, we know which team would be the frontrunner in that department.

For the second time during this young season, a Tampa Bay ballboy made a tremendous defensive play on a sharply hit foul ball, the latest one coming during Wednesday's contest between the Rays and Angels at Tropicana Field.

With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, Luis Rengifo hit a sharp grounder foul down the right-field line. Despite getting his feet tangled up along the way, the ballboy made a slick play to snare it, following up the web gem with a casual toss of the souvenir into the crowd. No big deal.

That came just a few weeks after another Rays ballboy made a spectacular grab of a sharply hit foul ball off the bat of the Blue Jays' George Springer. It was a two-hop liner and the ball boy made a full-extension dive to his right to glove it on the backhand. Just like Wednesday's defensive wizard, he then got up and jogged over toward the crowd before nonchalantly flipping the ball into the stands.

It's one thing to make a big league play as a ballboy. It's quite another to play it cool and act as though it's all in a day's work.

These guys are good, and they know it.