Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton each homered during the third inning of Sunday's game against the San Francisco Giants to give New York a 3-0 lead (GameTracker). It was the second blast of the year for both players.
Judge's home run, the less impressive of the two as you'll find out, came first. He smoked a hanging slider from Ross Stripling 392 feet to left, according to Statcast. Judge's homer departed with an exit velocity of 111.4 mph. That was the hardest hit ball of the game -- at least until Stanton stepped to the plate.
There's always a risk in overstating the impressiveness of a particular play. We don't think we're likely to toe the line when it comes to Stanton's home run. He drilled another Stripling slider deep into left-center field. Statcast had the ball traveling 485 feet and with an exit velocity of 117.8 mph.
Take a look at those home runs in all their moving picture glory:
For those wondering, Stanton's home run is the longest of the still-brand-new 2023 MLB season and the second-longest of his career during the Statcast Era. He hit a home run in August 2016 that was measured at 504 feet, tying him with Colorado Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron for the second-longest home run in the majors since the implementation of Statcast. Nomar Mazara, then of the Texas Rangers, possesses the longest of this period, hitting a 505-foot blast in June 2019 against the Chicago White Sox.
The Yankees were up 4-0 through four innings, as catcher Kyle Higashioka added a home run of his own during the bottom of the fourth. Right-hander Jhony Brito, making his big-league debut, had allowed just one hit. Meanwhile, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was making his first career appearance in the outfield in the majors. You can read more about that second part by clicking here.
