Ketel on tying longest HR of ’19: ‘I’ve got more’
PHOENIX -- Ketel Marte's first-inning homer went 482 feet on Sunday, tying the Rangers' Nomar Mazara for the longest homer hit this season, according to Statcast.
The D-backs center fielder's homer off Mets left-hander Steven Matz to lead off the frame jump-started a three-run first for Arizona, which beat New York, 7-1, to win the series.
Despite the impressive feat, Marte feels he didn’t get all of that ball.
“I think I’ve got more,” Marte said. “I didn’t put my hardest swing I have. I think I have a little more.”
It was the first leadoff home run of Marte's career, and he said it felt great.
“I got a homer on three pitches,” Marte said.
Marte's homer had an exit velocity of 111.9 mph, but it wasn't even his hardest-hit ball of the day. He recorded a 112.8 mph groundout in the fifth inning. Marte also had a 108.1 mph single in the eighth, giving him the three-highest exit velocities for the game.
Merrill Kelly, who got the win for Arizona on Sunday, said the D-backs have come to expect this kind of greatness from Marte.
“That guy’s unbelievable,” Kelly said of the 25-year-old center fielder, who is hitting .280/.331/.534. “That was probably one of the hardest home runs I’ve ever seen in my life. That ball was absolutely smoked. Every day you come in and you never know what you’re going to get, but you know you’re going to get good things. Watching him go about his business from the left and right side of the plate, it doesn’t matter, whoever is facing him definitely has to acknowledge how good of a hitter he is.”