The bare-handed magic of Freddy Galvis

Not many shortstops can go deep into the hole, stop the sharply hit baseball on the outfield grass and nail runners at first base as consistently as Freddy Galvis.

The 29-year old Venezuelan has made so many fantastic plays along his major league career, you could only wonder why he has not won at least a couple Rawlings Gold Gloves by now.

Add one of the greatest plays made by a shortstop in the first month of the 2019 season to his collection of unbelievable defensive gems.

Running deep into the Oakland Coliseum outfield, Galvis caught the Athletics’ Josh Phegley’s shot with his bare hand in the Blue Jays’ lopsided victory on April 20. The Galvis play is one that could be remembered for decades, maybe as much as Kevin Mitchell’s barehanded gem in 1989 for the Giants against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Dominican left fielder Teóscar Hernández could hardly believe his Blue Jays teammate’s play although he feels fortunate to have been around other great infielders such as Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa and third baseman Alex Bregman while he was with the Astros organization.

“I was only trying to read the trajectory of the ball as soon as possible, but I knew I did not have a chance to get to it,” Hernández said. “I saw where Freddy was at, and I thought he was going to dive for the ball. I did not believe neither one of us had a chance to catch it. I thought it was going to fall in no-man’s territory for a base hit.

“Suddenly, Freddy came out and caught it with his bare [right] hand. It was a huge surprise to me. It was spectacular. I’d never been involved live in such a play when one of my teammates caught a baseball barehanded.”

The Rangers’ Elvis Andrus, another great American League shortstop, loved the play from afar. He traveled to Oakland himself a few days after Galvis’ brilliant play for a three-game series against the Athletics.

Nothing Galvis, a fellow native of Venezuelan, does with the glove comes as a surprise to Andrus.

“I’ve known (Galvis) since he was a little kid,” said Andrus, who is less than 15 months older than Galvis. “I’ve seen him grow.

“Defensively he’s one of the best major league shortstops.”

Galvis is the only player in the majors to have appeared in every one of his team’s games the previous two seasons. He was sidelined briefly last month with hamstring tightness, though.

He has been the subject of admiration for his new Blue Jays teammates since the start of the 2019 season, his first in Toronto. Galvis made his debut for the Philadelphia Phillies as a 22-year-old in 2012 and has also played for the San Diego Padres.

Galvis was born in Punto Fijo, the capital of the Falcón state in the western part of Venezuela. He is also a huge admirer of great shortstops who excelled before him. He has been watching the respective videos of those fantastic glove men since he started playing baseball when he was just about four years old.

From those video highlights, Galvis will never forget the gem Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith made on April 20, 1978, when The Wizard of Oz was just a Padres rookie shortstop. Smith needed to adjust in a split-second to stop the baseball with his bare hand after it took a bad hop, precisely when he was diving for it to his left in the middle of the infield.

Another famous barehanded shortstop play was performed by 11-time Gold Glover Omar Vizquel to stop an almost sure base hit grounder down the middle of the turf infield when he saved a Chris Bosio no-hitter on April 22, 1993.

“It was one of those great plays that only Omar could make,” Galvis remembered with a smile.

Galvis has a ton of respect for Vizquel, his famous countryman who has steadily gained more support in his two years on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

Regarding his own Oakland play, Galvis obviously never planned for something like that to happen. Nobody ever does.

“It was a reaction play,” Galvis said. “I’ve made many plays running with my back to home plate, but never barehanded. The ball was hit to my left shoulder’s side. As as soon as I saw that, I looked out for where the left fielder was.

“After I saw [Hernández], I tried to pick up the flight of the baseball again, but it had changed course a lot, due to the strong breeze at that precise moment. Suddenly, the ball was now traveling to my right [non glove hand]. The reaction was to extend out my hand as much as possible and try to grab it bare-handed. Thank God it just stuck in there and I was able to make the play.”

Maybe fantastic catches like that one at the Coliseum will stick long enough in the minds of American League managers and coaches to help Galvis earn a Gold Glove, but that is not one of his current priorities.

He realizes those awards are out of his control. He won’t let the Gold Glove, or lack of one, affect his work ethic and dedication.

“If they give me a Gold Glove, it would be welcome,” he said. “Either way, I’ll keep working as hard as I can.”

Featured Image: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images Sport