ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — You did something special when Torii Hunter, a nine-time Gold Glove Award winner known for his acrobatic catches, called what you just did “probably the best defensive play I’ve ever seen.”
That was the praise Hunter showered on Jo Adell of the Los Angeles Angels after the right fielder made three homer catches, the last a spectacular one. jumping grab as he crashes into the seats near the foul pole in right field in the ninth inning, in a 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday evening.
“I’ve never seen three home run robberies in one game, and I’ve never seen a guy drop into the stands on the third, catch the ball and keep his feet in it like he’s a wide receiver,” said the 50-year-old Hunter, a special assistant to the general manager who watched the game from the bench. “I jumped up and down. I almost fainted.”
Caroline Brehman via Associated Press
Adell, who struggled on defense for several years before transforming into a Gold Glove finalist in 2024, jumped high above the yellow line on the right-field wall to deny Cal Raleigh a solo home run in the first inning and made a nearly identical catch to the one against Josh Naylor in the eighth.
J.P. Crawford then opened the ninth inning with a drive toward the right field corner, where Adell raced for the ball, jumped to glove it, spun over the low wall and fell into the front row of seats before raising his glove to present the catch, which was upheld after a replay review.
“After the first one I was pretty excited,” Adell said. “When I got to the second one, which looked identical to the first one, I thought, ‘Wow, my routes are on schedule tonight.’ The third was just grit. At the top of the ninth you have to get it done. It was crazy.
“You just get there, then it’s decision-making. The ball was hit high enough to where I could get to it. I looked at it (in my glove), fell over and landed on someone’s lap. I don’t know who it was, but it was a softer landing than I expected. The fans were as excited as I was.”
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According to Inside Edge, Adell has committed 10 home run robberies since 2020, tied with the Dodgers’ Kyle Tucker for the most in the major leagues. The outfielders with the most home run robberies in the entire 2025 season were Jacob Young of the Nationals and Fernando Tatis of the Padres. Both had four.
This was believed to be the first time in baseball history that a player robbed three home runs in one game.
“It was like a movie scene,” Hunter said of Adell’s third catch. “It was like the music was playing, then he caught the ball, then he went down and we didn’t see him anymore. The music stopped, he came up and said, ‘Yes!’ I started cheering and almost blacked out.”
Hunter, the former star of the Minnesota Twins, Angels and Detroit Tigers, has worked extensively with Adell on defense in recent years.
“His impact has been tremendous,” Adell said. “It’s mental when you’re out there — it’s a mentality of getting the baseball, being aggressive. At first I was in between some plays, and sometimes that happens.
“If you make the mistake of being aggressive and trying to make the plays, you’d be surprised how many plays you make. That’s the mentality Torii had all those years, when he won all those Gold Gloves.”
