There has always been one player who seems to be atop of the leaderboard for longest hit home runs as well as some off the charts exit velocity. That player is Yankees slugger, Giancarlo Stanton.
When healthy, Stanton is a batter almost every pitcher fears to pitch against. He has the ability to hit a home run each and every time he's at the plate.
Well, Stanton added to his already impressive list of home runs yesterday, when he took Giants pitcher, Ross Stripling deep in the bottom half of the 3rd. It marks Stanton's second home run of the season. However, it wasn't just a normal home run, of course, nobody expects that from him. Stanton's home run yesterday marked the second longest of his career. A 485-foot home run to left center field that left his bat at 117.8 mph.
Giancarlo Stanton’s longest home runs in the Statcast era (since 2015):
504 feet, 115.8 MPH EV vs COL (2016)
485 feet, 117.8 MPH EV vs SFG (yesterday)
483 feet, 121.3 MPH EV vs WSH (2020)
Longest home runs in the current Yankee Stadium:
Aaron Judge - 497 feet (2017)
Aaron Judge - 495 feet (2017)
Giancarlo Stanton - 485 feet (2023)
(Via YankeesMuse)
It is believed Stanton's home run made him just the second player to clear the batter’s eye since Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, joining Manny Machado, who did it for the Orioles in 2017. Everyone who witnessed the blast was left in awe, no different for the ones on the field and even the pitcher who was on the other end of history.
Ross Stripling stated “I saw that it was like one of the longest ones in Yankee Stadium history, I thought the wind was blowing out a little bit, so maybe it would be 460 on a normal day,” ; “I’m just kidding. Probably not. That one was pretty large."
Yankee manager, Aaron Boone chimed in, “G is weird,” ; “Every time he comes in after one of those, I just tell him, ‘You’re weird. You’re different.’ I mean, he hits it, and you know it’s going over the batter’s eye. It’s like, ‘Where is this thing going to go?’”
Lastly, the man himself joked around a bit when asked if there's any competition between him and Yankees captain, Aaron Judge. “We’re always messing around, like, ‘Anyone can hit one,’ stuff like that,” ; “It’s not a competition; we’re both here to help us win and be the best we can… I don’t worry about (the distance) too much. It just put us in a good spot to win the game. Everything synced up, timing, and the striking was on point. And I just let it go.” ; “Like I said, as long as it goes over the fence, that’s cool with me.”
(Quotes via Bryan Hoch)
Giancarlo Stanton has always wowed everyone in the game of baseball and its community with his freakish ability to hit baseballs at such an alarming pace. This is just another instance in which that community was questioning how Stanton does something that just seems like second nature to him.