Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton hit a whole lot of home runs this season, 59 to be specific, but ultimately came up just short of a few notable benchmarks:
60 HRs – The most homers Babe Ruth ever hit in a season and a longstanding record.
61 HRs – The most homers hit by a player not suspected of using steroids (Roger Maris)
73 HRs – The most homers hit by a player in a single season (Barry Bonds)
Check out his last at-bat of the season, and how, even though it ends in a strikeout, he feels the love from his teammates and hometown crowd:
Even though he couldn’t capture any home run records (well, to be fair, he is among the top 10 single season home run leaders of all time now), he did set a record last night.
According to Statcast, Giancarlo Stanton recorded the hardest base hit in Major League Baseball since Statcast started recording such events in 2015:
122.2 MPH off the bat?! Are you kidding me?
Stanton is well-known for his hard contact, but yeesh, that’s one well struck ball. It’s far from a perfect consolation prize, but hey, he may be one of the front runners for the 2017 NL MVP.
Here’s one more look at Miami sending him off right:
Thank you, @Giancarlo818.
Thank you.#MVP pic.twitter.com/Z8rYUrOUvS
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) October 1, 2017
What an amazing ballplayer.