Generally you applaud a baseball player diving for a ball and going all-out to make a play. Seeing that kind of hustle and effort is nice.
But there are times when diving for a ball isn’t the best idea. On a play that is no more 50/50 for an outfielder, it’s frequently not worth it. Whiffing with a dive can turn a single into extra bases (this is probably the most common way an inside-the-park homer happens, for example).
And then there’s whatever Steven Souza was doing on Friday night in Minnesota!
That ball was 20 feet away! I’m guessing Souza simply got an awful read off the bat or the swing was deceiving? Or both.
Whatever the case, that’s as worthless of a diving attempt as you will ever see, at any baseball level.
Souza did hit a homer, and the Rays won the game 5-1. So at least he can just laugh the bizarre dive off now.
UPDATE: Souza says he lost the ball in the lights.
UPDATE II:
https://twitter.com/statcast/status/868331628132802561
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/868302755638673409
Thank you for calling him Souza. It gets really annoying hearing him constantly called Souza Jr.