St. Louis Cardinals minor league Delvin Pérez hit a pretty routine fly out to left field Thursday night. What wasn’t routine, though, was Pérez’s reaction
Pérez, playing for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds, admired the ball as it flew toward the outfield, before flipping his bat and starting to run the bases — not realizing Gwinnett Stripers left fielder Justin-Henry Malloy was tracking it down.
Not even when Malloy made the catch did Pérez realize his mistake. That rude awakening came as Malloy was rounding third base and his teammates in the Memphis dugout told him he was out.
When he heard the news, Pérez was in shock, jaw dropped and hands on his helmet.
His embarrassment was felt in the broadcast booth.
“Perez… still thinks it out,” the play-by-play announcer said on the broadcast. “He’s gonna round the bases!”
“He thinks it’s gone!” the analyst chimed in. “Oh nooooooooo!”
Delvin Perez reacted strongly after realizing his home run wasn’t one.RedbirdsPerez appeared to at least smile at his predicament, returning to the dugout where his teammates and staff members had themselves a laugh.
The Redbirds finished the night with a 6-1 victory over Gwinnett, with Perez driving in a pair of runs with an eighth-inning single.
Pérez made top-100 prospect lists in 2017 after he was drafted, but has struggled in making it up the ranks of minor league baseball. The 23-year-old infielder entered Thursday’s game hitting .226 with five home runs in 93 games in Memphis and Double-A Springfield.
