The A’s were leading the Yankees 3-1 on Wednesday when Aaron Hicks unleashed fury with his arm from left field.
With the bases loaded and just one out, Yonder Alonso lifted one into left. Although the ball had good depth, it was clearly a fly out, so Danny Valencia prepared to tag from third.
Now, nine times out of ten (maybe more!), this is a no doubt run-scoring sac fly But on Wednesday, Hicks nailed Valencia at the plate with a 105.5 MPH strike from left field:
Indeed, the throw became the fastest of the Statcast era, topping the previous high of 103.1 (Carlos Gomez). But Hicks is no stranger to velocity. As a standout pitcher in high school, Hicks routinely worked in the upper 90s, and last September 30th, he threw a 103.07 MPH ball from the outfield, as well. You can read more about the throw here, or check out Hicks’ thoughts on it here: