Todd Frazier admits he showed rubber ball to sell 'catch'

Todd Frazier admits he fooled the umps into thinking he made a catch he didn't make, but he swears he didn't plan it.

In Monday's game against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the Mets third baseman dove into the stands to snare a foul ball. After the tumble, he showed the umpire the ball, got the out call and then quickly tossed the ball back into the stands. The only problem was that it wasn't the ball hit by the Dodgers' Alex Verdugo.

It was a rubber ball that he happened to grab after losing the real one during his fall. He said that at first he thought it was the real ball but after quickly realizing it wasn't, he instinctively sold the catch to the ump anyway.

"It is Hollywood," Frazier said Wednesday. "Sometimes you've got to act out a little bit."

Frazier could later be seen explaining what happened to his teammates in the dugout. He said he noticed a fan yelling at third base umpire Mark Wegner to draw his attention to the real ball.

"I was trying to get out of there as quick as possible," Frazier said. "I saw someone pointing at the right ball and I was like, 'All right, I'm just going to have to play this off.' I got in the dugout and was telling people I was flabbergasted that I even got away with it."

SportsNet New York was the first media outlet to report that Frazier faked the catch.