MLB Star Ties Statcast Record with Moonshot Home Run
Baseballs are flying out of ballparks at a record pace this season, as the MLB record for homers set in 2017 is on pace to be smashed by more than 500 longballs per Yahoo! Sports.
But it’s not just the quantity of home runs that has increased, as it seems the distance of homers has also gone up. That was evident Friday night when Nomar Mazara of the Texas Rangers launched the longest home run during the Statcast era, which dates back five years.
His 505-foot moonshot at first seemed like it could actually exit the stadium at Globe Life Park in Arlington. But it “settled” high into the upper right-field bleachers.
5️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ FEET! ??? pic.twitter.com/C40SrLUXIl
— MLB (@MLB) June 22, 2019
The home run ties Colorado’s Trevor Story, who hit one 505 feet last September for the longest in the Statcast era.
Also according to Statcast, the pitch was a 94.7 mph fastball and had an exit velocity of 109.7 mph.
Surprisingly, that velocity is nowhere near the fastest this season as Giancarlo Stanton hit a single at 120.6 mph.
Earlier in the season, Mazara hit one 482 feet against the Cubs — which makes him the only player this season with multiple home runs of at least 480 feet.
Nomar Mazara hit a 505-foot HR tonight, tied with Trevor Story (who did so last year) for the longest HR in the last 10 seasons.@NomarMzra26 is the 4th different player to record multiple 480-foot HR in a single season in the last 10 years (Stanton has done it twice). pic.twitter.com/xS6ELDe24A
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 22, 2019
Last night was Mazara’s 10th home run of the season and despite his prodigious power, he’s never hit more than 20 home runs in any season.
In fact, he has hit 20 home runs in each of his first three full seasons in the majors, but this one felt different, he said.
“I didn’t know where it went, and then I got to home plate and saw the look on Elvis [Andrus’] face,” Mazara said to MLB.com. “I knew then I had hit it far. Then [Shin-Soo] Choo told me that was the longest home run ever.”
However, there may be a bit of a caveat to Mazara’s blast, as it did come in favorable conditions for batters.
A wind storm hit Arlington on Sunday and damaged some of the wind screens on the outfield roof.
Thus, more wind got into the ballpark and was estimated at 17 mph at the start of the game, which would help a ball carry more.
“I don’t know … I’d like to do the physics on it,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said to MLB.com. “It was windier today. Typically, early in the season it was windier, and then we went through a dead period where the wind wasn’t that bad. Today, it was blowing a little bit.
“Maz hit that ball pretty hard. Where it landed was amazing. Farthest ball ever here. It looked like it off the bat. I am glad I got to see it in person. It sounded all of 505 feet. It was pretty loud.”
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