Nolan Arenado on catch of the year: 'It was a crazy play'

SAN FRANCISCO – The congratulatory calls and texts kept coming from all sorts of sources – friends, relatives, fellow players.

Derek Jeter was not among the ones passing along his kudos, but in a lot of minds, he and Nolan Arenado are now linked together.

Arenado, the Colorado Rockies' third baseman who has won Gold Gloves in each of his first two seasons, reminded observers of the New York Yankees great with a phenomenal catch in the eighth inning of Tuesday night's 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants.

Trailing 3-0, the Giants had runners on first and second with no outs when Gregor Blanco lifted a foul pop toward the tarp past the third-base line. Aware the wind often brings fouls back from the stands onto the field, Arenado sprinted after the ball with his back to the plate and made a last-second stab at it, securing it just as he went straight into the tarp and half his body flipped into the stands.

With a remarkable presence of mind, Arenado promptly fired the ball back trying to catch Angel Pagan tagging from second, but shortstop Troy Tulowitzki couldn't come up with his one-hop throw.

Arenado was a bit shaken up after the play, taking a moment to collect himself while the fans at AT&T Park gave him a standing ovation even though he'd helped thwart a Giants rally.

"It was a great play, but also scary at the same time,'' said Arenado, who didn't realize he was so close to the tarp. "It was a crazy play. When you watch it on replay you're kind of like, 'Whoa.' The feeling of it wasn't as bad as it looked.''

It didn't take much imagination to think back to Jeter's famous catch in an extra-inning game against the Boston Red Sox in 2004, one of the plays that cemented his legend. Jeter was also pursuing a foul pop in full sprint and, just as he caught it, his momentum carried him into the Yankee Stadium box seats. He came out with a bloody chin and a scrape under his eye – but also with the ball.

MLB.com ran video of the plays side-by-side in its account of Arenado's catch, which Rockies manager Walt Weiss – like Jeter a former standout defensive shortstop – deemed even harder.

"The play Jeter made was an unbelievable play on a huge stage, but that play Nolan made last night is as good as I've seen,'' Weiss said before Wednesday's game. "I think it was a much more difficult play because the ball was hit straight over his head as opposed to running on a different angle that Jeter ended up, going after that ball. That (Arenado's) was an amazing play on a few different levels.''

One of the elements that increased its degree of difficulty was the wind swirling at the Giants' venue. With the Rockies' video coordinator lending a hand, Arenado got to see several replays and different angles of his catch and developed a fuller appreciation for it.

Now, if Jeter happens to lay his eyes on it, perhaps he'll reach out to the young star.

"I'm waiting for Derek Jeter's call,'' Arenado said with a smile. "No, I'm kidding. That'd be sweet.''