SURPRISE, Ariz. – Take a freeze frame of Patrick Wisdom’s leaping catch in the Cubs’ spring training opener, and he almost looks like a goalkeeper.
He was robbing the Giants’ Blake Sabol of a base hit, elevating to snag a line drive over his head. But replace the baseball with a soccer ball, and he could have been a goalie making a last-ditch effort to push a shot over the crossbar.
Wisdom took advantage of that crossover in the offseason, working with former professional goalkeeper and coach Ben Dragavon, who is based near Wisdom’s home in the Seattle area.