Jo Adell and the Best Defensive Game Ever
- Sheehan Planas-Arteaga
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
No one's ever been better on defense than Jo Adell on April 4th, 2026.
Jo Adell is normally not a very good defender. Since his debut in 2020, his best defensive season put him in the 32nd percentile, at -2 runs of value. Last year, he was in the 1st percentile, at a horrific -13 runs. He’s just not a very good outfielder, despite his athletic gifts. Sorry to paint a bleak picture here. Those are just the facts.
But baseball’s a funny game. This past Saturday Jo Adell played what I think must be the best defensive game in the history of baseball, and maybe sports, after he robbed not one, not two, but three home runs in right field for the Angels, in a 1-0 victory over the Mariners.
Equivalents
Think of any of the best defensive games in other sports. Ty Law picking off Peyton Manning three times in the AFC Championship. Derrick Thomas’s seven-sack game against the Seahawks. Hakeem Olajuwon recording 12 blocks and seven steals against the Sonics. The common denominator here is that each of these guys were known as defensive wizards who are now in the Hall of Fame. They weren’t the seventh worst defender in the league the year prior, and the worst for his position, as Adell was (by Outs Above Average).
There are simply no equivalents across other sports, not just due to the source of the performance, but the nature of it as well.
No Doubt About It
A steal in basketball or an interception/fumble recovery in football is important for two reasons: it forces a change of possession and it prevents a hypothetical bad outcome. The team instantly goes from being on defense to offense, which is good. The team also doesn’t allow the rest of the possession to play out, which, hypothetically, may lead to points for the opposing team. Also good. A block in basketball is like that as well, it just doesn’t guarantee a change of possession.
The hypothetical is important here. A blocked shot might have gone in. An interception might have been a touchdown. But these are all hypotheticals. Robbing a home run, apart from preventing the most impactful play in baseball, also prevents something that absolutely would have happened. That’s what makes it the most influential defensive play in all of sports (of the ones I know enough about).
Jo Adell pulled it off three times in a single game, with each one representing the tying or go-ahead run.
Randomness
There’s also the infinitesimal chance of this scenario being possible. The thing about home run robberies is they have to come on wall-scrapers. You can’t rob a bomb. As the great Bob Uecker said in Major League II as Rick Vaughn gave up a long home run, “He’ll need a rocket up his ass to catch this one. That baby is outta here.” Jo Adell saw three batted balls set to juuuust leave the yard, and brought them all back from whence they came.
A one-in-a-million chance coupled with a one-in-a-million performance, all in a 1-0 ballgame. Might have to rethink the title I gave to Bam Adebayo's 83-point performance. The best defensive game ever, courtesy of Jo Adell of the Los Angeles Angels on April 4th, 2026. That’s baseball, baby.
Also one of the best sports photos too:
