Craziest Statcast facts from Rogers Centre

TORONTO -- Given the bats that have powered the Blue Jays' lineups and the realities of playing in the powerful American League East, Rogers Centre has been a playground for Statcast numbers since tracking started in 2015.

Stretching back to Toronto's postseason runs of 2015 and '16 up to the new era of today's sluggers, we’re able to measure more accurately than ever what players do on the diamond.

From big blows to oddballs and outliers, these are some of the highs -- and lows -- that Statcast has measured at Rogers Centre.

Hardest-hit ball: 120.3 mph
Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees (July 8, 2018)

It’s no surprise that a Yankees slugger sets the high mark here, with Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge making regular trips to Toronto. Stanton's third-inning single was ripped over the shortstop’s head against Ryan Borucki, who was making just his third Major League start and went on to throw seven innings of one-run ball.

Stanton also has the second hardest-hit ball at Rogers Centre on a 119.3-mph home run in 2018, but the rest of the top five is filled out by a familiar name: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the third-, fourth- and fifth-hardest-hit balls at Rogers Centre, topping out at 118.9 mph on a single in '19. It’s a tremendous accomplishment for a player so young, and Guerrero will have plenty of time to unseat Stanton.

Hardest pitch: 102.0 mph
Kelvin Herrera, Royals (July 31, 2015)

There aren’t many good memories involving the Royals for Blue Jays fans from 2015, so you can add this one to the pile. Herrera, then 25, was among the game’s better relievers, posting a 2.71 ERA that season and making his first of two All-Star Game appearances. This 102-mph fastball actually came in Herrera’s only two-inning outing of the regular season, giving him the slight edge over the hard-throwing duo of Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman, whose names litter the top-10 hardest-thrown pitches at Rogers Centre.

Deepest home run: 481 feet
Avisaíl García, White Sox (April 3, 2018)

All you need to see from this home run is the reaction of veteran left-hander J.A. Happ the moment García makes contact. This pitch funneled right onto the barrel of García's bat and he unloaded, sending it off the Rogers Centre’s hotel windows in left-center field.

George Springer took a run at García in August 2019, launching a 474-foot blast, and he’s followed by a string of Blue Jays. Josh Donaldson (469 feet), Kendrys Morales (465) and Randal Grichuk (464) round out the five deepest home runs hit at Rogers Centre.

Moonshot: 45 degrees
Teoscar Hernández, Blue Jays (June 5, 2018)

Of all the home runs hit at Rogers Centre since 2015 -- and there have been plenty -- none left the bat with a higher launch angle than Hernández skyscraper off of C.C. Sabathia in '18. With the game scoreless in the sixth inning, Sabathia tried to bury a pitch down and in on Hernández, but the power-hitting outfielder got under it and lifted the ball high to left field. This might have been a long, lazy fly ball from another hitter, but Hernández's strength allowed him to yank it into the second deck. You can hear the crowd’s rumble slowly grow as they ball just keeps carrying and carrying.

Softest hit ball (for a base hit): 17.5 mph
Willy Adames, Rays (Sept. 5, 2018)

Some call it luck, others call it finesse. In his rookie season, Willy Adames found a soft spot in the Blue Jays' infield with a batted ball that had just a 17.5-mph exit velocity. That gives Adames the edge over Darwin Barney, who reached on a 20.1-mph single in 2017 while with the Blue Jays.

The softest-hit home run was in 2016 off the bat of Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier, an 89-mph shot. Blue Jays catcher Reese McGuire came close in '19, with a home run that left the bat at 89.1 mph. Those are the only two home runs hit at Rogers Centre with exit velocities under 90 mph.

Softest pitch (resulting in a strike): 57.8 mph
R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays (Sept. 25, 2015)

Who else but the knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey? We’ll limit this to pitches that resulted in strikes to avoid intentional walks and slip-ups, but Dickey was the king of the floater. Pitching against the Rays in his second-to-last start of the 2015 regular season, Dickey snuck across a 57.8-mph pitch for a strike, the softest-thrown strike at Rogers Centre since Statcast began tracking. Dickey has a handful in the low 60s as well, giving him the edge over position players who have taken the mound for the Blue Jays.

Catcher Luke Maile has the second-, third- and fourth-softest strikes thrown at Rogers Centre, with a low of 59.6 mph. That and Dickey’s strike are the only two strikes thrown under 60 mph. Those pitches all came on a May 25 appearance in 2019, when Maile struck out two over a clean inning of work on 18 pitches.