An MLB ranking of the past week’s 25 longest home runs, topped by Ian Desmond’s 486-footer in Colorado, and by rockets from Eloy Jimenez and Jorge Soler.
This past week in MLB was a superb time to be Eloy Jimenez or Jorge Soler.
Jimenez, the Chicago White Sox outfielder, just concluded the best week of his rookie season. He went 9-for 22 with two doubles, four home runs, and nine RBIs.
Soler, the Kansas City Royals outfielder, did almost as well. He batted 8-for-20 with two doubles, two home runs, and six RBIs.
And the home runs those two guys hit weren’t run-of-the-mill taters. Their average carry was 453 feet, and four of them were among the 15 longest struck by anybody all week.
The average exit velocity of Jimenez’s nine hits this past week approached 105 mph. That’s not the high; that’s the average. And it includes a 68 mph bleeder that found a hole against the Yankees Saturday. The other eight? They left his bat at an average velocity of 110 mph.
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Only the 486-foot bomb Ian Desmond delivered against Chicago Cubs left-hander Mike Montgomery Monday night prevented Jimenez from claiming the top spot on this week’s list of the game’s longest home runs. But Jimenez can take solace in the fact that Desmond produced his moon shot in the thin air of Coors Field. Jimenez hit his in sea level environs, Kansas City and Chicago.
For the record, Desmond’s home run, which reached the Coors Field concourse in deep left-center, is the longest hit in the majors so far this season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhUM6hwq0E
Soler didn’t hit as many bombs as Jimenez, but the two he did author were the hardest-hit homers of the week. On Sunday he smacked a 445-footer off Chicago’s Reynaldo Lopez that left his bat at 113.3 mph. The only harder-hit ball was Soler’s 462-footer Saturday off Jake Odorizzi, the week’s third longest. That one touched 114.4 mph.
It’s a good thing Ryan Carpenter didn’t run into either of those guys. The Tigers pitcher made two starts this week. On Sunday, the Minnesota Twins shelled him for 10 hits and eight runs in 3.2 innings in an eventual 12-2 defeat. One of those hits was Miguel Sano’s 436 foot home run. Carpenter returned to the mound on Friday and allowed eight runs on eight hits to Cleveland, among them Leonys Martin’s 435-foot homer.
The guys who went deep this week went extremely deep. The average carry of the 25 taters on this list was 450.76 feet, and five exceeded 460.
The list of longest blasts is based on the estimated distance of every home run hit during the week. In the event of ties, exit velocity is used as the tie-breaker.
Here’s the full list of the week’s 25 longest batted balls in MLB
Rank     Date     Hitter, team                      Pitcher, team                    Exit Vel.        Distance
1             6-10      Ian Desmond, Col           Mike Montgomery, Chc  110.8                    486
2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6-9Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Eloy Jimenez, CWSÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Glenn Sparkman, KCÂ Â Â Â Â Â 111.5Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 471
3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6-15Â Â Â Â Â Â Jorge Soler, KCÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jake Odorizzi, TBÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 114.4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 462
4             6-11      Eloy Jimenez, CWS         Patrick Corbin, Was        110.8                    462
5             6-12      Javier Baez, Chc        Philip Diehl, Col                111.9                    460
6             6-15      Alex Verdugo, LA            Yu Darvish, Chc                109.0                    459
7             6-14      Hunter Renfroe, SD       Mike Dunn, Col                107.5                    459
8             6-15      Pete Alonso, NYM          Michael Wacha, Stl         111.8                    458
9             6-11      Tommy Pham, TB            Mike Fiers, Oak        108.0                    458
10          6-9         Jung Ho Kang, Pit            Chase Anderson, Mil     111.4                    457
11Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6-9Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Brandon Lowe, TBÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Eduardo Rodriguez, Bos109.6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 455
12          6-9         Daniel Vogelbach, Oak  Cody Allen, LAA        109.0                    448
13          6-11      Brandon Dixon, Det       Jakob Junis, KC                 108.8                    447
14          6-14      Michael Chavis, Bos       Dan Straily, Bal         108.0                    447
15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6-90Â Â Â Â Â Â Jorge Soler, KCÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Reynaldo Lopez, CWSÂ Â Â 113.3Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 445
16          6-10      Ji Man Choi, TB                Joakim Soria, Oak      109.7                    445
17          6-13      Rafael Devers, Bos         Adrian Sampson, Tex    109.5                    443
18          6-14      Christian Vazquez, Bos Luis Ortiz, Bal          106.5                    443
19          6-11      Travis Shaw, Mil               Brad Peacock, Hou     106.2                    440
20          6-15      Yordan Alvarez, Hou      Clayton Richard, Tor       109.6                    439
21          6-14      Josh Donaldson, Atl       Nick Pivetta, Phi              109.3                    439
22          6-11      Ryan O’Hearn, KC           Blaine Hardy, Det            107.4                    439
23          6-10      Ronald Acuna Jr., Atl      Alex McRae, Pit         108.9                    436
24          6-9         Miguel Sano, Min            Ryan Carpenter, Det      108.3                    436
25          6-14      Leonys Martin, Cle         Ryan Carpenter, Det    108.3                    435