Baltimore Orioles: Jonathan Villar – long-ball master
By Bill Felber
Baltimore Orioles middle infielder Jonathan Villar has a new hobby: hitting 420-foot-plus bombs
Major League Baseball’s home run epidemic of 2019 is growing a face, and it looks a heck of a lot like Baltimore Orioles infielder Jonathan Villar.
Baltimore’s versatile middle infielder fits the role of the poster child for the season superbly. In the maturing stages of a seven-season career never known for its power, Villar on Sunday slammed his 20th home run…and his fourth in the last five games.
It wasn’t any cheapie, either. In the fourth inning of Baltimore’s 8-3 victory over Tampa Bay, Villar sent a Jalen Beeks pitch on a 443-foot joyride at 108.8 mph. It was the longest home run hit in the majors all day.
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Sending pitches on extended excursions has suddenly become a Villar pastime. He hit a 416-footer on Saturday, a 420-footer on Friday, and those followed 434- and 431-foot blasts just last week.
That gives Villar five home runs in the past week at a monumental average distance of 428.8 feet. Among recognized sluggers, the closest thing to a comp has been Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman. He fired off four in that same span of days … but at an average distance of only 399.5 feet.
Villar’s 20th homer represents a career high, his previous best being 19 in 2016. Eight of those 20 carried 420 feet or beyond, precisely matching his career total of 420-footers prior to this season.
His newfound power is showing up in other statistical ways as well. Villar’s .466 slugging percentage is on pace to be a career best, 82 points higher than his 2018 percentage. At 60 RBIs, he is within three of a personal best in that category as well.
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With seven August home runs, Villar remains one short of registering the best long ball month of his career; he hit eight in September of 2016. But those eight only averaged 395 feet in carry. Villar’s seven this month have averaged 421 feet. So he needs one more in the ensuing week to complete the best long ball month of his professional life. The way he’s going, he may have it by nightfall.