Yankees' Max Schuemann backlash isn't warranted — the stats tell the truth

Yankees' Max Schuemann backlash isn't warranted — the stats tell the truth originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The end result looked odd.

There was Max Schuemann, the New York Yankees' left fielder, diving for a ball in the gap on Sunday night in Philadelphia, and getting not particularly close to it.

The ball then got by him, and it ended up being a bases-clearing double for Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.

Alec Bohm laces a bases-clearing double to extend the @Phillies lead on #SundayNightBaseball! pic.twitter.com/yaAtGsigEb

— MLB (@MLB) July 27, 2026

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Schuemann has gotten a lot of criticism for this play, but it's actually unwarranted backlash.

The reality is that this ball was practically uncatchable.

It had just a 5% catch probability, according to Statcast.

The fact that Schuemann was that close at all was due to the fact that he got a really good jump. You can tell by the fact that he's pretty much full throttle as soon as the broadcast camera flips to the outfield.

Max Schuemann has taken a lot of criticism for this play, but Statcast gives this ball had a 5% catch probability from where Max started.

Awkward looking attempt for sure, but there shouldn't be an argument that another outfielder would have caught it easily: https://t.co/5rGMaBfWdM

— The WARmonger (@TheWARmonger_) July 27, 2026

Running the direction he was, Schuemann also could see clearly that Trent Grisham was there backing him up. An all-out dive attempt wasn't going to have a huge negative here, and with the Yankees already trailing, he made a solid estimation that it was worth going for broke rather than playing prevent defense.

That above post also follows up with the detail that Cody Bellinger's best left field catch this season had a 45% catch probability.

This isn't about Schuemann at all. He gave it his best, and that was actually a pretty dang good effort when considering all the numbers.

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