THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED: The original post stated that Buxton ran 30 MPH when in reality it was 30.9 feet per second.
I’m not sure how I missed this on Friday night (or maybe I missed it because he’s just too damn quick), but Byron Buxton legged out a blisteringly fast inside-the-park home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and it sure is something special.
Check it out:
That was no Little League inside-the-park home run fueled by errors and misplays, that was just a straight up, hustle-it-out homer that Buxton earned with his legs.
He also, as you can see in the video, set a new Statcast record, needing just 13.85 seconds to go home to home on the play. I mean, hell, he reached a top speed of up to 30.9 feet per second. That’s insane!
Oh, and the previous record holder in the Statcast era? Also Byron Buxton, with a 14.05 second inside the parker last October 2nd in Chicago (off Chris Sale, no less).
Buxton may not yet be the overall offensive contributor we were promised, but if he keeps using his legs to his advantage (like this ridiculous homer) that may change soon enough.