Top 5 longest HRs hit at Progressive Field
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CLEVELAND -- It’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball. It’s what kids imitate in the backyard with their Wiffle Ball bats. The moment when a Major Leaguer launches a no-doubt home run and watches it disappear into the distance captivates fans at home and in the ballpark.
Statcast hasn’t tracked a home run longer than Jim Thome’s 511-foot blast in 1999 at Progressive Field that’s forever marked in the outfield concourse, but there have been 10 homers hit at least 450 feet at the corner of Carnegie Avenue and Ontario Street, including just one above 460 feet.
Who hit the five longest home runs in the Statcast Era at Progressive Field? Let’s take a look:
1) Jeimer Candelario, DET
467 feet on July 15, 2019
The Tigers held a 4-3 lead over the Indians entering the top of the sixth inning, when Candelario destroyed a 2-1 pitch from Adam Plutko. It jumped off the bat at 107.9 mph, as he took a few slow steps toward first base to watch where it landed. The ball traveled a whopping 467 feet to hit the back wall of the visitors' bullpen. But a two-homer game by Oscar Mercado helped the Indians ultimately come out on top.
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2) Adalberto Mondesi, KC
458 feet on Sept. 7, 2020
If it had been hit in any other year, fans waiting in line at the Cleveland Kraut stand in right field would have gotten an unexpected surprise. Mondesi connected for his first homer of the 2020 season on a 3-1 fastball from Zach Plesac in the seventh inning and launched into the empty concourse, clearing the right-field seats. The 458-foot solo shot got the Royals on the board in the Indians’ 5-2 victory.
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3) Bobby Bradley, CLE
457 feet on July 13, 2019
Who has the Indians’ longest home run since 2015? Franmil Reyes? José Ramírez? Francisco Lindor? Carlos Santana? Nope. Bradley may only have 15 career games under his belt, but his lone home run caused outfielder Jordan Luplow’s jaw to drop in awe in the dugout. His first career long ball was scorched at 113.5 mph off a 3-2 fastball from the Twins’ Tyler Duffey, and it landed 457 feet into the right-field stands.
“It was amazing,” Bradley said that night. “A dream come true. And to do it in front of the home crowd is even better.”
4) Francisco Lindor, CLE
456 feet on April 27, 2017
Over six years in Cleveland, Lindor has never hit a ball farther at Progressive Field than he did against the Astros early in the 2017 season. With the Tribe down by one in the bottom of the seventh, “Mr. Smile” launched the go-ahead two-run blast deep into the bullpen in right-center field off a 2-0 changeup from Chris Devenski. At the time, 456 feet marked the longest home run of the Statcast Era.
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5) Alex Gordon, KC
455 feet on April 28, 2015
Statcast hadn’t been around long before Gordon launched the fifth-longest homer at Progressive Field. A solo blast off Trevor Bauer in the second inning got the Royals on the board in their eventual 11-5 victory over the Tribe. Gordon smacked an 88.6 mph changeup 455 feet to deep right field.
What about the Indians’ longest homers at their home ballpark?
We’ve already learned that two members of the Tribe worked their way into the Top 5 longest blasts at home, but who fills out the rest of Cleveland's Top 5?
1) Bradley: 457 feet on July 13, 2019
2) Lindor: 456 feet on April 27, 2017
3) Edwin Encarnación: 452 feet on Aug. 23, 2017
4) Jake Bauers: 450 feet on May 22, 2019
T5) Carlos Santana: 447 feet on May 25, 2015
T5) Roberto Pérez: 447 feet on June 8, 2019