One of the Yankees’ strengths this season was supposed to be their defense, but it’s been anything but that in the early going. That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any bright spots, though, and one of the most impressive plays of the season came from the right arm of Aaron Hicks on Wednesday night.
The Yankees were having a disaster of an inning in the fourth, with the previously relaxed Nathan Eovaldi now laboring, and the bases loaded with just one out. Yonder Alonso hit a deep fly ball to left field, which was caught by Hicks and fired home to gun down Danny Valencia. The throw was a perfect frozen rope, but the most impressive part of the play was exemplified by StatCast.
Hicks’ throw came in at an impossible-sounding 105.5 mph. To put that into context, it’s the fastest throw ever recorded by StatCast. The fastest pitch of all time was an Aroldis Chapman fastball that came in at 105.1 mph, and the fastest throw from the outfield last season was a 103.1 mph laser from Carlos Gonzalez. Hicks’ throw was Bo Jackson-esque, and it’s hard to imagine this impressive number being topped any time soon.