WBSC Baseball Top-10 Plays of 2024: Australia's Darryl George tops list; Premier12 prominent
An outstanding double play executed by Australia third baseman Darryl George in the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS Group B game played against Chinese Taipei at the Taipei Dome has been selected as the No. 1 play of the 2024 International Baseball Season.
In the top of the fourth inning with Chinese Taipei leading 4-1, George, 31, leapt superbly to his right, taking a ripper of a catch with his reverse glove off the bat of Chen-Wei Chen before getting back on his feet to throw to Rixon Wingrove to beat Kun-Yu Chiang trying to get back to first base. The home side went onto to score two more runs in the inning and eventually win the game 11-3 to confirm a spot in the Super Round but it was a stunning piece of defence from George, which the WBSC Media Department chose as the top play of the international baseball season.
Six of the Top 10 plays come from the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS while two of the selected plays took place during the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Finals and two in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup, including the No. 2 play, an unbelievable leaping catch by Puerto Rico's Daniel Figueroa against Colombia.
Mexico's second baseman Andres Alvarez placed third in the Premier12 game against Panama. The other Premier12 plays placed fourth (the Netherlands' Didi Gregorius), seventh (USA centre fielder Justin Crawford against Venezuela), eighth (Cuba's third baseman Yoan Moncada against the Dominican Republic) and 10th (another great play at third base, finalized by Matt Shaw of the United States.
The second of the plays from the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup finished sixth. It's another superb catch at third base by Japan's Takanori Takahashi against Puerto Rico.
Canada's centre fielder and captain Sena Catteral earned the fifth spot displaying great speed and a diving catch against the Women's Baseball World Champions Japan.
Chinese Taipei's shortstop Yi-Hsuan Chiu placed ninth catching a blooper against Canada.