Feast your eyes on Mazara's 505-foot homer
'Complete bomb' matches the longest ever measured by Statcast
T.R. Sullivan
@Sullivan_RangerARLINGTON -- A milestone has been achieved at Globe Life Park in its 26th year of existence: the first 500-foot home run.
Nomar Mazara launched it in the first inning of the Rangers¡¯ 5-4, 10-inning loss to the White Sox on Friday, a two-run homer that had a projected distance of 505 feet, according to Statcast.
That is tied for the longest home run in the Major Leagues since Statcast began calculating distances in 2015. Colorado¡¯s Trevor Story had one projected at 505 feet on Sept. 5, 2018, against the Giants at Coors Field.
¡°It¡¯s pretty good to have that,¡± Mazara said. ¡°It feels good. I¡¯ve hit some balls hard, but that seemed to come off my bat quicker.¡±
Mazara¡¯s home run came off White Sox pitcher Reynaldo Lopez. It came on a 94.7-mph fastball and had an exit velocity of 109.7 mph, landing in the second deck beyond right field.
¡°It was a bad pitch,¡± Lopez said. ¡°It was supposed to be in, and the pitch ran in the middle. It was a mistake. It was a very long, long homer. I can tell you that. But I tried just to forget about that and keep my focus on the game.¡±
Elvis Andrus was on first base and scored ahead of Mazara. This is Andrus¡¯ 11th year with the Rangers, and he has seen his share of long home runs. He was on base every time the night Josh Hamilton hit four home runs in Baltimore in 2012. He has played with Nelson Cruz and Joey Gallo, among others. But he was impressed with Mazara¡¯s shot.
¡°That was a bomb, a complete bomb,¡± Andrus said. ¡°I think it was more than 505 feet. It more like 600 feet. It was really loud. We know he can do that. He¡¯s got a lot of pop in his bat.¡±
Mazara said he lost sight of the ball as it soared deep to right field.
¡°I didn¡¯t know where it went, and then I got to home plate and saw the look on Elvis¡¯ face,¡± Mazara said. ¡°I knew then I had hit it far. Then [Shin-Soo] Choo told me that was the longest home run ever.¡±
The home run did come in favorable hitting conditions. The wind was estimated at 17 mph at the start of the game, and without some of the wind screens on the roof in left-center field. Several of those screens adjacent to the video board were damaged in a wind storm that hit in Arlington on Sunday, and balls seem to be carrying much better on this homestand. They are supposed to be replaced on the next homestand.
¡°I don¡¯t know ... I¡¯d like to do the physics on it,¡± Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. ¡°It was windier today. Typically, early in the season it was windier, and then we went through a dead period where the wind wasn¡¯t that bad. Today it was blowing a little bit.¡±
Mazara had the previous longest homer at Globe Life Park under Statcast. He hit one projected at 491 feet on May 25, 2016, against the Angels. Prior to the introduction of Statcast in 2015, no home run at Globe Life Park had ever been announced at a distance of 500 feet under any measuring system.
¡°Maz hit that ball pretty hard,¡± Woodward said. ¡°Where it landed was amazing. Farthest ball ever here. It looked like it off the bat. I am glad I got to see it in person. It sounded all of 505 feet. It was pretty loud.¡±