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Joe Mack's pop time is why Marlins should be extra excited about new call-up originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Joe Mack can hit. He can even run a bit.
But the thing that is going to make him immediately valuable to the Miami Marlins upon his promotion from Triple-A to the major leagues is his defense. And one skill, his pop time, stands out the most.
Pop time, in essence, is how long it takes a catcher to get the ball to second base on a steal attempt.
Whether a runner gets thrown out or not can depend on how well the pitcher holds a guy on, as well as how quick a pitcher is to home plate.
But once the ball arrives to the catcher, certain players are better than others at efficiently getting rid of the ball with quickness, strength and accuracy.
Mack is one of the very best.
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No throw exemplifies that better than this one from last year's Triple-A championship series.
A pitch way outside that Mack wasn't expecting forced him to take a totally different path to the ball than he normally would. And yet even with that, he unleashes a dart to throw the runner out.
It's as if the ball barely touched Mack's glove before it was going the other way again:
The potentially amusing part of this is that opposing teams will test the rookie. Even with a good reputation, Mack is going to see guys take off against him in the early going.
If he starts throwing players out like that clip above, the attempts will decline in a hurry. That's a special trait.
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