Watch Dane Myers do a perfect Giancarlo Stanton impression

Ely Sussman · July 6, 2024

Nearly 10 years apart, Myers and Stanton made identical plays in right field.

At 28 years old, Dane Myers is still fighting for steady playing time on the Miami Marlins. He's stuck on the short side of a right field platoon with merely average-ish offensive numbers this season (.239/.312/.388, 97 wRC+ in 77 PA). When Giancarlo Stanton was Myers' age, he had already completed his extraordinary Marlins tenure, earning four All-Star selections and the 2017 National League MVP award, signing a $325M contract extension and setting numerous franchise records.

On the surface, they don't have much in common, but defensively, the resemblance between present-day Myers and prime Stanton is uncanny. (All credit goes to Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase for matching up these two specific plays.)

In the second inning of Friday's game at loanDepot park, Chicago White Sox third baseman Lenyn Sosa hit a liner to right field. To Sosa and anybody who watches baseball regularly, it looked like a surefire double. Myers had to run 78 feet toward the foul line—and away from second base—just to get to the ball, gathering it near the lip of the warning track.

Myers was pleased that Sosa took the bait. He unleashed an excellent one-hop throw to Xavier Edwards in front of the second base bag, who applied the tag for the first out of the inning.

Rewinding to July 28, 2014, Stanton did the exact same thing in this ballpark (which was then known as Marlins Park). He tracked down a Jayson Werth hit only a few feet away from where Myers was and caught the Washington Nationals outfielder trying to hustle for a double. Adeiny Hechavarría was on the receiving end of it.

Stanton's play proved to be a crucial momentum swing in the Marlins' favor. Trailing 6-0 in the top of the seventh, the game was seemingly decided with Miami's win probability at roughly 1%, per Baseball-Reference. However, the Fish scored seven unanswered runs after that to complete an exhilarating comeback.

During that season, Stanton recorded seven outfield assists in 1,262 ⅓ defensive innings. A converted pitcher, Myers is already up to five assists in only 160 innings!

Myers has a long way to go to establish himself, and the Marlins are going to lose a lot of ballgames in 2024 regardless of his contributions, but there's no disputing that he has a big league-caliber arm.

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