Statcast was introduced in 2015 as a high-speed, high-accuracy automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities. They track anything a baseball fan can think of, including the hardest-hit home runs. One player has been associated with the home run exit velocity since Statcast’s debut. Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge have combined to hit 13 of the 20 hardest home runs in Statcast history. As for Stanton, he stands alone in the top five of the hardest-hit home runs in the Statcast era.
Giancarlo Stanton Has Three of the Five Hardest-Hit Home Runs
Stanton: 121.7 mph- August 9, 2018 vs. Texas Rangers
With Judge out with an injured wrist, Stanton picked up the Yankees offense. His record-setting home run gave him three consecutive games with a home run. It was also the 28th of 38 long balls he hit that season. However, only one ball has been hit harder under Statcast tracking, which belonged to Stanton. The former MVP hit a 122.2 mph single on the final day of the 2017 season where he was a home run shy of 60 of the year.
“It’s cool when you get to numbers like that,” Stanton said to the Associated Press on that day. “But, in general, if it goes over the fence, it goes over the fence. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t so. So, I seen balls 95 mph go over.”
121.3 mph- July 25, 2020 vs. Washington Nationals
Two nights after hitting his first blast in his first at-bat of the 2020 season, Stanton hit a home run that was far but just as fast as the one he hit against the Rangers. On a 3-0 count, Nationals pitcher Erick Fedde threw a four-seam fastball down the middle of the plate. Stanton saw what was coming and got every bit of that pitch, unloading on a 483-foot missile that nearly cleared the left field bleachers at Nationals Park.
“He gets the 3-0 pitch and hit it about as hard as you possibly can. Really excited about where he’s at right now,” manager Aaron Boone said on Stanton.
10 hardest HR since Statcast’s intro
Stanton: 121.7 mph, 8/9/18
**Stanton: 121.3, tonight**
Judge: 121.1, 6/10/17
Judge: 119.4, 4/28/17
Stanton: 119.3, 6/6/18
Stanton: 119.2, 6/23/15
Stanton: 118.7, 9/28/17
Judge: 118.6, 6/11/17
Stanton: 118.5, 4/23/15
Judge: 118.4, 7/4/17 pic.twitter.com/KxLMapF82M— David Adler (@_dadler) July 26, 2020
119.9 mph- May 8, 2024 vs. Houston Astros
In the third inning of New York’s 9-4 victory, Stanton pulled up once again. He pulled a 1-2 curveball from Spencer Arrighetti into the second deck in left field at Yankee Stadium. The 447-foot homer came one night after Stanton hit a 118.8 mph bomb off Justin Verlander in Tuesday’s 10-3 win against the Astros. The Yankees manager described it as a 2-iron.
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “Just weird. Hashtag weird.”
The home run was not only the hardest-hit ball in the majors this season, but the fifth hardest-that homer tracked by Statcast.
Main Photo: © Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
