Pittsburgh Pirates newest slugger: Steven Brault

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steven Brault authors one of the week’s longest bombs

Last week Kansas City’s Alex Gordon became the first position player this season to make the list of 25 longest home runs as a pitcher.

This week Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Steven Brault flipped that script.

Brault, a part-time Pittsburgh Pirates starter, took the mound Sept. 1 in what would become a 6-2 Pirate victory. In addition to working 6.1 innings in which he held Colorado to one earned run while striking out five, Brault led off the seventh inning with a 441-foot home run off his mound opponent, Jesus Tinoco. The blast, which gave Brault a 3-1 lead, turned out to be the week’s 16th longest.

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Only one player was responsible for two of the week’s longest, and that player was the game’s premier one. On Tuesday, Mike Trout drilled a 437 footer off Oakland’s Mike Fiers. Two nights later. Trout took advantage of the Athletics’ Brett Anderson to the tune of a 455-footer.

That Thursday home run matched the week’s longest in terms of raw distance. Because Toronto’s Rowdy Tellez also hit a 455-footer – and because Tellez’s left the park at a greater exit velocity – under tie-breaking rules it is listed as the week’s longest, and Trout’s is relegated to second place.

Tellez’s homer measured 112.9 mph off the bat. Trout’s left at 111.1 mph.

From the standpoint of pure exit velocity, Kansas City’s Jorge Soler delivered the week’s hardest-hit home run. Soler smoked a 450-footer Wednesday against Detroit’s Edwin Jackson that flew away at 115.7 mph.

The average distance of the week’s 215 longest was 443.2 feet.

Here’s the full list of the week’s 25 longest home runs. The standard of measurement is distance as reported by Statcast. Where there are ties, they are broken by exit velocity.