The youngsters populating the baseball diamond at Major League Baseball’s Home Run exhibition possess a singular mission: Secure the balls that don’t clear the fence.
However, this past Monday, one participant exceeded expectations.
During the concluding round featuring Seattle Mariners’ catcher, Cal Raleigh, and Tampa Bay Rays’ infielder, Junior Caminero, the latter appeared to hit his sixth home run — until a person wearing a baseball glove leaped and caught the ball. It remained uncertain if the hit would have cleared the fence, but its potential was apparent.
The umpires reviewed the action during Caminero’s break and decided to award the 22-year-old the home run.
Ultimately, the event did not prove consequential. Caminero initially appeared capable of surpassing Raleigh’s 18 home runs in the final round, but his pace diminished near the round’s end. He managed to hit only one additional home run, culminating in a total of 15 and securing Raleigh’s victory as the first catcher to ever win the exhibition.
If Caminero had achieved a total of 18 or 19 home runs, the narrative might have been significantly different.
Following the event, the media identified the individual as Sam Musterer, the 17-year-old offspring of an official statistician employed by the Atlanta Braves. Musterer’s account of the incident:
“I wasn’t entirely conscious of my position relative to the fence,” Musterer explained. “I thought the fence was marginally taller in that area. I simply reached up and grabbed it.”
Caminero offered a defense of Musterer, as relayed by MLB.com’s Mark Bowman:
“These things transpire,” Caminero said through an interpreter. “He was also enjoying the experience. He did something he perceived as enjoyable, and it was acceptable.”
In contrast, Raleigh joked that “I paid him off”, and the Mariners’ team also found humor in the situation:
That wasn’t the only point of discussion concerning Raleigh during the exhibition. While he appeared strong in the final and semifinal rounds, where he triumphed over Pirates’ slugger Oneil Cruz, the initial round presented a different narrative.
As the seventh batter in an eight-participant field, Raleigh hit 17 home runs, tying him with Athletics’ designated hitter Brent Rooker for fourth place in a round where the top four batters proceed. Matt Olson, the final batter, concluded with 15.
Ties in the initial round are resolved by the longest home run distance, but both Raleigh and Rooker were documented as hitting a ball spanning 471 feet. It seemed a swing-off would be required, but information then surfaced, indicating Raleigh’s home run traveled 470.61 feet, while Rooker’s reached 470.53 feet, according to Statcast.
Having an official declare that one player — who is also a prominent figure in the event — surpassed another by a mere inch is not ideal, but this allowed Raleigh to advance from the first round alongside Caminero, Cruz, and Twins’ player Byron Buxton.
With the catch, the review, and a 513-foot hit from Cruz, it proved to be a noteworthy Home Run exhibition. And hopefully, a valuable lesson for a certain young Atlanta resident.
