Longest HR? Hardest hit? Fastest K? Here are Statcast's top plays of '23

Before 2023 is over, here's a look back at the top plays of the year.

It's time to give out the Statcast superlatives for this year in baseball -- the longest home run, the fastest strikeout, the best catch of the season and more. (You can check out last year's edition here.)

These are 15 of MLB's best plays of 2023.

Hardest-hit ball -- and home run
Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves: 121.2 mph (Sept. 2)

Who else but the MVP could have the hardest-hit ball of 2023? Acuña hammered a 121.2 mph, 454-foot home run to dead center field at Dodger Stadium for No. 32 of the Braves superstar's 41 last season. Acuña, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez and Oneil Cruz are now the only five players to ever hit a ball 120 mph or harder since Statcast began tracking in 2015. Acuña, Judge and Stanton are the only ones to hit a 120-plus mph home run.

Longest home run
Shohei Ohtani, Angels: 493 feet (June 30)

Who else but the other MVP would have the longest homer of 2023? Ohtani's 30th home run of the season was a monster shot -- nearly 500 feet to deep right field at Angel Stadium. Just one more signature moment in the two-way superstar's career. Ohtani's previous career long homer was 470 feet. He's now one of only 15 different players to hit a home run 490 feet or farther under Statcast tracking.

Fastest strikeout pitch
Jhoan Duran, Twins: 104.0 mph (May 24, July 19)

The Twins' flamethrowing closer was the only pitcher to reach 104 mph in 2023. Duran topped out at 104.8 mph on any pitch, but his fastest K's came at 104 on the dot. He got the Giants' Casey Schmitt in May, and the Mariners' Mike Ford in July -- and both were game-ending strikeouts. Duran also had the fastest strikeout pitch of the 2022 season, but that one was "only" 103.2 mph. The last pitcher with a 104-plus mph K was Jordan Hicks in 2019.

Slowest strikeout pitch
Luke Raley, Rays: 50.0 mph (May 23)

Every once in a while, we get the treat of a position player pitcher breaking out the eephus and striking out a star hitter. That's what happened when Raley took the mound for Tampa Bay at the end of a blowout loss to the Blue Jays -- and struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a 50 mph lob. Vlad Jr. took a Ruthian hack at Raley's floater, completely missed and laughed his way back to the dugout. After the game, he signed the ball for Raley with the message: "You got me."

Most movement on a strikeout (glove-side)
Mitch Keller, Pirates: 26 inches (June 11)

There were a few pitchers who generated 26 inches of break on a strikeout in 2023 -- Keller, the Rays' Jason Adam and the Marlins' Andrew Nardi. That's over two full feet of movement. But this strikeout from Keller, where he got the Mets' Brandon Nimmo on a beautiful "sweeper" slider, might be the nastiest of the bunch.

Most movement on a strikeout (arm-side)
Devin Williams, Brewers: 27 inches (June 28)

Now let's look at pitches breaking in the other direction. It should be no surprise that Williams' airbender changeup stands out. This was among his nastiest airbenders of the season -- a game-ending strikeout of 2022 batting champion Jeff McNeil.

Fastest inside-the-park home run
Bobby Witt Jr., Royals: 14.29 seconds (Aug. 14)

Witt electrified the home crowd in Kansas City with the fastest home run of the season against the Mariners in August. The Royals' young star reached a top sprint speed of 30.2 feet per second on his trip around the bases -- anything 30 ft/sec or faster is elite speed -- and got home in just 14.29 seconds. That's the fourth-fastest inside-the-park home run of the Statcast era, and the fastest since Byron Buxton's record 13.85 seconds on Aug. 18, 2017.

Slowest home run trot
Yordan Alvarez, Astros: 34.45 seconds (Sept. 17)

After Alex Bregman and Alvarez were hit by pitches from Royals starter Jordan Lyles back-to-back earlier in the game, Alvarez stepped in for his next plate appearance against Lyles and unloaded a 115 mph home run. Then he took the slowest trip around the bases all season -- well over twice as long as Witt's speedy home run.

Fastest triple
Elly De La Cruz, Reds: 10.83 seconds (June 7, June 23)

The Reds' electric rookie might be the fastest player in baseball -- De La Cruz topped the 2023 sprint speed leaderboard alongside Witt at 30.5 ft/sec. De La Cruz didn't waste any time showing the world that game-changing speed. On June 7, the day after his MLB debut, Cruz hit his first career triple against the Dodgers and went home-to-third in just 10.83 seconds. That was the fastest triple of the season … until Cruz tied his own mark a few weeks later against the Braves on his second career triple.

Fastest sprint speed on a stolen base
Elly De La Cruz, Reds: 30.8 ft/sec (Sept. 22)

This was the Year of the Stolen Base in MLB, and De La Cruz was one of the most fun players to watch as he tore up the basepaths. He reached the 30-steal milestone by reaching well over 30 ft/sec -- Statcast's threshold for elite speed -- to swipe second base against the Pirates in September. Later in this same game, he recorded stolen base No. 31 … at 30.7 ft/sec.

Best pop time to 2B on CS
Patrick Bailey, Giants: 1.71 seconds (Aug. 13)

Bailey challenged J.T. Realmuto for the title of King of Pop Time in 2023. The Giants rookie made some of the best throws by any catcher all year, including this rocket down to second base to catch Rangers speedster Ezequiel Duran, who was trying to put the go-ahead run into scoring position in a tie game in the ninth inning. Bailey's quick release and arm strength -- he got rid of this 85.4 mph throw in just 0.47 seconds -- put a stop to that.

Hardest outfield assist
Nolan Jones, Rockies: 102.7 mph (Sept. 11)

Jones and Rockies teammate Brenton Doyle combined for four of the top five outfield assists of the year by arm strength, six of the top 10 and nine of the top 15. The one that topped the leaderboard came from Jones in left field -- he nailed the Cubs' Seiya Suzuki at the plate with one of his three 100-plus mph outfield assists on the season.

Hardest infield assist
Elly De La Cruz, Reds: 99.8 mph (July 20)

Yes, we got a near-100 mph throw by an infielder in 2023. That's how ridiculous De La Cruz's tools are. He was at shortstop when he made this throw, a relay to the plate to nab the Giants' Wilmer Flores. Fun fact: De La Cruz had another relay assist on a throw that was nearly just as hard a month later, 99.7 mph to stop D-backs speedster Corbin Carroll from getting an inside-the-park home run on Aug. 27.

Hardest infield assist (non-relay)
Elly De La Cruz, Reds: 97.9 mph (July 16)

If you just want to know which infielder made the hardest throw to first on a regular ground ball … well, that's also De La Cruz. He was playing third base for this one, and fired a 97.9 mph strike across the diamond to get the Brewers' Joey Wiemer. There's just a whole lot of De La Cruz on the infield arm strength leaderboard.

Most difficult catch
Corbin Carroll, D-backs: 5% catch probability (June 3)

A 5% catch is as low as it gets by Statcast's catch probability metric, which looks at how far an outfielder has to go to make a play and how much time he has to make it. There's more than one 5% catch per season, but here's one of the best.

Carroll, who was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2023 and a top-five MVP finisher, made this highlight-reel diving grab in center field to rob last year's Rookie of the Year, the Braves' Michael Harris II. Carroll had to cover 71 feet in just 3.7 seconds to make the catch.