The Bomb Squad: The Longest Home Runs in MLB During Week-21
By Bill Felber
NY-based hitters provided four of week-21’s five longest home runs in MLB. Tampa’s Tommy Pham and Baltimore’s Jonathan Villar both made the list twice.
Sluggers from the Big Apple made their presence known with four of the five longest blows in MLB this week.
Aaron Judge, recovered from injuries that have limited him to just 73 games (and 14 home runs), hit one Tuesday in Oakland that measured up to his old standards. It traveled 467 feet, the week’s longest.
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Three Mets teammates, meanwhile, dominated the remainder of the list. Michael Conforto blasted a 452-footer off Kansas City’s Glenn Sparkman, Pete Alonso went 451 feet off Atlanta’s Max Fried, and J D Davis delivered a crucial 447 foot home run off Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.
They were, respectively, the week’s second, third and fifth-longest home runs.
The average distance of this week’s 25 longest homers was 438.6 feet.
Two players made the list twice, neither widely known for his power. Tampa Bay’s Tommy Pham on Sunday slugged a 432-footer off Detroit’s Buck Farmer, then one day later hit a 447-foot bomb off Seattle’s Marco Gonzalez. That was the only home run among the five longest not struck by a New York-based player.
Baltimore’s Jonathan Villar also hit two. The first – measuring 431 feet — came Monday against Kansas City’s Jake Newberry. On Wednesday Villar touched Royal Mike Montgomery for a 434-footer.
Pham’s were two of four struck by members of the Tampa Bay Rays. Austin Meadows and Kevin Kiermaier also made the list.
Two pitchers made the list twice for the wrong reasons. Chicago’s Ross Detwiler gave up a 431-foot home run to Shohei Ohtani on Sunday, then on Thursday surrendered a 447-foot homer to Elvis Andrus.
And Milwaukee’s Chase Anderson on Sunday threw Matt Adams’ 438-foot homer as well as Victor Robles’ 429-footer.
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The list measures the longest home runs in MLB as calculated by Statcast. Where ties exist, they are broken by exit velocity. Here are the week’s 25 longest.
No. Batter, team Pitcher, team Distance
1 Aaron Judge, NYY Joakim Soria, Oak 467
2 Michael Conforto, NYM Glenn Sparkman, KC 452
3 Pete Alonso, NYM Max Fried, Atl 451
4 Tommy Pham, TB Marco Gonzalez, Sea 447
5 J D Davis, NYM Shane Bieber, Cle 447
6 Elvis Andrus, Tex Ross Detwiler, CWS 447
7 Charlie Blackmon, Col Jordan Yamamoto, Mia 445
8 Jose Abreu, CWS Kyle Gibson, Min 442
9 Freddie Freeman, Atl Edwin Diaz, NYM 439
10 Ketel Marte, Ari Chi Chi Gonzalez, Col 439
11 Austin Meadows, TB Ty Blach, Bal 438
12 Matt Adams, Was Chase Anderson, Mil 438
13 James McCann, CWS Ariel Jurado, Tex 434
14 Jonathan Villar, Bal Mike Montgomery, KC 434
15 Travis Demeritte, Det Hector Rondon, Hou 434
16 Will Smith, SF Sean Reid-Foley, Tor 434
17 Kevin Kiermaier, TB Matt Magill, Sea 432
18 Tommy Pham, TB Buck Farmer, Det 432
19 Anthony Rendon, Was Chris Stratton, Pit 432
20 Jonathan Villar, Bal Jake Newberry, KC 431
21 Shohei Ohtani, LAA Ross Detwiler, CWS 431
22 Max Muncy, LA Tim Mayza, Tor 431
23 Mike Ford, NYY Yusmeiro Petit, Oak 430
24 Victor Robles, Was Chase Anderson, Mil 429
25 Ronny Rodriguez, Det Wade Miley, Hou 429