Aaron Hicks' 105.5 mile-per-hour throw from left field to nab Oakland A's Danny Valencia at the plate was one for the record books, despite the Yankees dropping the game at home Wednesday.
Hicks' throw came in the fourth inning at Yankee Stadium when Oakland's Yonder Alonso hit a long fly ball to Hicks in left field and Valencia tagging up at third base, noted
MLB.com.
After making the catch, Hicks launched the ball 246.6 feet on one hop to catcher Brian McCann, who applied the tag as Valencia tried to touch home play with his hand.
Statcast recorded the throw at 105.5 mph, topping the old record by the Houston Astros' Carlos Gomez, who had a 103.1 mph throw last September, said MLB.com.
"When you know your ball's not tailing and you've got that nice four-seam going straight, you know you're going to get a solid hop," Hicks told the
New York Daily News of the throw. "I did today."
It was actually Hicks second big-time throw of the inning, according to MLB.com. Chris Coghlan scored from second on a Josh Reddick single to left, but Hicks' throw, which registered at 98.7 mph, couldn't be handled by McCann.
"I was trying to one-hop it there, and it ended up two bounces," Hicks said. "One hop, I just think is a better throw there with a guy going to second. I was just trying to keep that guy [Reddick] from going to second. Just trying to get a nice little one hop."
Hicks, who is in his fourth Major League season after playing his first three years with the Minnesota Twins, couldn't help his team offensively, though. He went 0-for-3 at the plate, giving him a paltry .050 batting average in 12 games with the Yankees.
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