Hey Phillies fans, not sure if you know this guy, but Detroit Tigers centerfielder Matt Vierling pulled off a hidden ball trick on Friday night in a game against the Seattle Mariners.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Mariners in the first inning. In the bottom half, Julio Rodriguez mashed a baseball deep to centerfield and left Tigers’ pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez hanging his head in disappointment. 

Mariners fans took their feet and the announcers made a home run call. Every single person in T-Mobile Park thought it was a no-doubter except one man. 

That man, was Matt Vierling. 

The ball was NOT gone. Vierling leaped above the yellow line and snagged to before nonchalantly flipping the ball out of his glove after what had to be an intentional delay. 

Matt Vierling Hidden Ball Trick Robbery

“Juilio Rodriguez pounds one to deep centerfield,” Tigers play-by-play announcer Matt Shepard said. “Vierling chasing. . . He leaps and it is gone!”

“No, he caught it! Vierling pulled it down! Even Rodriguez thought it was gone,” Shepard said in surprise. “Vierling fooled just about everybody!”

Matty V still has it. I will always remember last season when the Phillies beat the New York Mets in extra innings after Matt Vierling threw out a tagging Starling Marte who would have been the winning run.

Anyways, Julio Rodriguez played it cool, walking back in the dugout and laughing while Vierling let Mariners fans in the outfield know what’s up after the catch.

After a slow start to his debut season in Detroit, Vierling has really turned it on over the past 30 games for the Tigers. He’s batting .306 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI over his last 30 and on the season he’s batting .275 with 7 home runs, 24 RBI, and a .751 OPS over 240 at-bats. 

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