Look: Former Terry Stanford star makes incredible catch in minor league baseball game

DJ Herz, a one time star for Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville, NC, now playing for the South Bend (IN) Cubs, a Class A ball affiliate of the Chicago Cubs in the Midwest League, tweeted about a spectacular diving catch he made on Wednesday as he pitched against Dayton (OH).

He captioned the tweet, “Pitchers aren’t athletes.”

In the bottom of the first inning, after allowing a lead-off double to Dayton’s Justice Thomas, Herz faced Elly de la Cruz who attempted to sacrifice Thompson to third with a bunt. Herz, a left-handed pitcher, raced off the mound as the bunt was popped in front of home plate and snared the ball with a head-long dive, just in front of his catcher Pablo Aliendo.

Herz then struck out the next two batters to end the inning, starting a streak of eight consecutive punchouts. He would go on to retire 15 consecutive batters with 11 of them coming on strikeouts. With two outs in the fifth he finally allowed his second base runner of the game when he hit Garrett Woolworth, but then recorded his 12th strikeout of the contest to complete an amazing five innings of work.

The game remained scoreless into the top of the sixth when South Bend scored three times to take the lead and make Herz the pitcher of record. With one out in the bottom of the sixth, the game was halted by a thunderstorm and eventually suspended. It will be completed on Thursday.

Thus far this season, Herz has made 10 appearances, all starts, and has a 1-0 record with a spectacular 1.45 ERA over 37.1 innings pitched. He has 53 strikeouts and has posted a 0.86 WHIP. The Cubs selected him in the 8th round of the 2019 MLB First Year Players Draft, 252nd overall.

In 2021, his first full season in professional baseball, Herz was named the Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year.