5 Longest Home Runs of the Statcast Era
There was once a time in baseball when the distance of a home run was essentially measured by eye, with estimates of how far a ball flew out of the park. Since 2015, though, Major League Baseball has officially used a tool called Statcast that measures a lot of different data with extreme accuracy, including home run distance. The game’s measurables have been on full display in the Statcast era, with launch angle, exit velocity, and more all included with every swing.
Because of Statcast, we no longer have to guess how long a home run was, and gone are the days of anecdotes of 600-foot home runs. With that said, there have still been some absolute bombs hit during the Statcast era of Major League Baseball. Let’s take a look at the five longest home runs since the measuring tool was introduced.
5. Five Tied (495 Feet)
Strangely enough, there have been five batters to reach 495 feet with their home runs, with two of them appearing later in the list. Aaron Judge hit the first 495-footer of the Statcast era, hitting a missile off of Logan Verrett of the Baltimore Orioles in June 2017.
The second man to reach 495 feet was Joey Gallo while he was a member of the Texas Rangers, doing so in July 2018 on a bottom-of-the-ninth shot that tied the game and forced extra innings against Cleveland. Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves joined the party in September 2020 against the Red Sox, with Miguel Sano following up the next year (also against the Red Sox). Finally, Ryan McMahon of the Colorado Rockies hit a 495-footer against the St. Louis Cardinals in August 2022.
4. Three Tied (496 Feet)
There have been three instances during the Statcast era in which a batter has launched a home run of exactly 496 feet. The first came with American League home run record-holder Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees in one of the final games of 2017 against the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the 33rd home run of the year for Judge, which he would obviously build upon a few years later.
The next 496-footer came off the bat of Miguel Sano with the Minnesota Twins. He did so against the Chicago White Sox late in the 2019 season and it was his 30th home run of the season. Finally, there was Jesus Sanchez of the Miami Marlins, who took advantage of the thin air at Coors Field to mash a 496-foot home run during a 7-1 loss.
3. Christian Yelich (499 Feet)
Another slugger to take advantage of the Coors Field air, Christian Yelich of the Milwaukee Brewers helped keep his team in the thick of the playoff race in September 2022 by launching a 499-foot home run. The game would end up being 10-7 in favor of the Rockies, and Yelich got the party started with his massive home run.
The home run came off of Rockies pitcher Chad Kuhl, and for Yelich it was his 12th home run of the 2022 season. While it ended up being a ‘down’ season for the former MVP, it was still the longest home run of Yelich’s career by a wide margin.
2. Two Tied (504 Feet)
In 2016, Giancarlo Stanton, who was then a member of the Miami Marlins, set the then-Statcast record with a 504-foot home run off of the Colorado Rockies in the fifth inning of a game on August 6, 2016, to give the Marlins a 3-2 lead. Again, it was a product of Coors Field allowing the ball to continue to carry into the stands, and had an exit velocity of 115.8 miles per hour.
Six years later, C.J. Cron added to the lore of Coors Field by pulling a 504-footer of his own down the left field line against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The crowd was nearly empty as both teams were out of the playoff hunt, but the home run made a lot of highlight reels.
1. Nomar Mazara (505 Feet)
Finally, we reach the only man on the list to hit 505 feet with a home run, and that’s Nomar Mazara of the Texas Rangers. On June 2019, he faced Reynaldo Lopez and the Chicago White Sox at home and didn’t waste any time doing so.
The home run came in the bottom of the first of a 0-0 game, with Mazara breaking the tie on his two-run shot. Mazara’s home run was his 10th of the year at that point and had an exit velocity of 109.7 miles per hour.