One of the adages that is almost as old as baseball itself is this: Keep your eye on the ball. Whoever coined the phrase probably didn’t have anything in mind like what we saw from Cleveland Indians pitcher Zack McAllister on Tuesday night.
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McAllister turned in a shining example of hand-eye coordination —*and really, foot-eye coordination too — to make one of the most memorable catches we’ll see this season.
(MLB.tv) As you see above, that liner hits McAllister’s foot on his follow-through and he kicks it up in the air. He then spins, finds the ball in the air and catches it. It was a fantastic play for a pitcher, but it took the skills of a soccer goalie — agility, quick-thinking, use of various limbs.
Watch it from this angle to see just how alert McAllister had to be to make this play:

We’ll stop short of calling this the “catch of the year,” mainly because of the luck that’s involved here compared to some of the pure athleticism we see from outfielders. But it certainly will be one of the most talked-about and best-remembered.
It has a novelty that not every baseball play does. It’ll make you say to your buddy, “Hey, did you see that pitcher who kicked a line drive in the air and caught it?”
You might have never seen it before. But now, thanks to Zach McAllister, you have.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz