ANAHEIM, Calif. — When a nine-time Gold Glove winner famous for spectacular catches declares what you just accomplished as “probably the greatest defensive game I’ve ever seen,” you know you’ve achieved something extraordinary.
That’s exactly what happened to Los Angeles Angels outfielder Jo Adell, who delivered a historic defensive performance by preventing three home runs during Saturday night’s 1-0 victory against the Seattle Mariners. The most dramatic moment came in the ninth inning when Adell made a spectacular jumping catch while tumbling into the seats behind the right-field foul pole.
“I’ve never seen three home run robberies in one game, and I’ve never seen a guy on the third one fall into the stands, catch the ball and keep his feet in like he’s a wide receiver,” commented 50-year-old Torii Hunter, who serves as a special assistant to the general manager and witnessed the performance from the dugout. “I was jumping up and down. I almost passed out.”
Adell, whose defensive struggles in previous seasons transformed into a Gold Glove nomination in 2024, first soared above the yellow warning line in center-right field to rob Cal Raleigh of a solo home run during the opening inning. He repeated the feat with an almost identical catch against Josh Naylor in the eighth frame.
The climactic moment arrived when J.P. Crawford opened the ninth with a drive toward the right-field corner. Adell sprinted to the ball’s location, launched himself upward to secure it, flipped over the short wall and landed in the front row before triumphantly displaying his glove to show the successful catch, which officials confirmed following video review.
“After the first one, I was pretty fired up,” Adell explained. “When I got to the second one, which looked identical to the first, I thought, ‘Wow, my routes are on point tonight.’ The third one was just grit. Top of the ninth, you have to get it done. It was crazy.
“You just get there, then it’s decision-making. The ball was hit high enough to where I could get there. I watched it (into my glove), fell over and ended up in somebody’s lap. I don’t know who it was, but it was a softer landing than I expected. The fans were as fired up as me.”
Data from Inside Edge shows Adell has prevented 10 home runs since 2020, matching Kyle Tucker of the Dodgers for the major league lead. The outfielders who prevented the most home runs throughout the entire 2025 season were Washington’s Jacob Young and San Diego’s Fernando Tatis, each with four.
Baseball historians believe this marks the first instance of a player preventing three home runs during a single contest.
“It was like a movie scene,” Hunter described regarding Adell’s final catch. “It was like the music was playing, then he caught the ball, then he went down and we didn’t see him anymore. The music paused, he came up and said, ‘Yeah!’ I started cheering and almost blacked out.”
Hunter, the former star for Minnesota, Los Angeles and Detroit, has collaborated closely with Adell on defensive fundamentals over recent years.
“His impact has been huge,” Adell acknowledged. “It’s mental when you’re out there — it’s a mindset of going to get the baseball, being aggressive. Early, I was caught in between on some plays, and sometimes that happens.
“When you err on the side of being aggressive and trying to make the plays, you’d be surprised at how many plays you make. That’s the mindset Torii had all those years, winning all those Gold Gloves.”
