Bregman robbed by ... Astros' bullpen catcher?!

HOUSTON -- Look at him. He can play center field.

Longtime Astros bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte made the play of the day during Thursday’s Summer Camp instrasquad game at Minute Maid Park, running down a hard-hit fly ball off the bat of All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman in right-center field for a game-ending catch.

“I got a good jump and I started running hard,” he said. “I looked up and the ball was right there. I had an idea where the ball was supposed to be and ran hard and I started looking up. I saw I had a chance and put my glove up and it came down.”

Even Astros speedy outfielder Myles Straw, who allowed Bracamonte to borrow his glove, was impressed.

“I hope I can run it down at that age,” he said.

The 50-year-old Bracamonte manned center field for both teams in the four-inning game, while Class A Tri-City manager Wladimir Sutil played left and Astros bench coach Joe Espada played right. Astros manager Dusty Baker said the team’s actual outfielders got their work in earlier in the day.

There were no balls hit to Bracamonte until Bregman sent one his way with two outs in the fourth. Wearing a covering on his face that wrapped around the top of his cap from behind, Bracamonte made a long run, reached out and caught the ball a few steps shy of the warning track. He pumped his fist into the air.

“To see Dusty’s face was funny and everybody was smiling,” Bracamonte said. “Justin Verlander came out and he was so excited and everybody was so happy. All the coaches and everything. It was fun.”

Bracamonte said he had decided to play a little deeper for the Bregman at-bat and was shaded towards left field because he thought Bregman would pull the ball. Plus, Sutil strained a hamstring a few days ago and couldn’t cover much ground.

“I said, ‘No worries, I’ll take care of all this area right there,’” he said. “I was trying not to embarrass myself either, but I was into every pitch, preparing myself for every pitch.”

Bracamonte is no stranger to the highlight reel. He’s thrown batting practice at the Home Run Derby five times, including for Bregman last year. He got an at-bat in the instructional league while catching Andy Pettitte’s rehab assignment in 2004 and hit a grounder off Fausto Carmona, who was also on rehab. In 2012, he drew a walk after entering an exhibition game at Double-A Corpus Christi as a pinch-runner, then scored.

“I live for these little moments,” Bracamonte said. “It was fun.”

A former shortstop and second baseman, Bracamonte played at the Yankees' Venezuelan Academy from 1988-90, which made him just the third Venezuelan player to sign a pro contract after serving as a bat boy in the Venezuelan Winter League. He later moved to the Houston area and gave baseball lessons while working at Pizza Hut and UPS to make ends meet.

Richard Hidalgo and Bobby Abreu, who are both also from Venezuela, lived with Bracamonte when they first came to the big leagues with Houston in the late 1990s. In 2001, Hidalgo called Bracamonte from Colorado one day and said there was an opportunity to throw batting practice at Minute Maid Park because a coach was unavailable. He’s been a fixture since.

“The guy can do it all,” Bregman said.