I Don’t Think I’ve Ever Seen a Baseball Hit as Hard as the Homer Gary Sanchez Hit Yesterday

When Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez broke onto the scene a couple years ago, he really took advantage of his first extended big league opportunity, launching 20 home runs in just 229 plate appearances – that’s an 11.5 PA/HR pace, just better than the 11.7 mark Giancarlo Stanton posted last season, when he launched 59 homers en route to the NL MVP award.

And while neither the hilariously high .657 SLG percentage or .358 ISO Sanchez posted during that stretch in late 2016 were sustainable, he did launch another 33 home runs last season, with an impressive .531 SLG and .253 ISO. Needless to say, the dude’s got *serious* power, and there’s really no question about it.

But we didn’t really need a bunch of numbers to tell us that, did we? All we have to do is watch what he did to this poor, unsuspecting baseball during yesterday’s Spring Training contest against the Tigers – I don’t think I’ve ever see something hit so hard.

If you’re in a position to watch with the volume on, do it. Not only is the sound of the baseball hitting the bat so distinct, the reaction of the crowd really sells how hard this thing was launched:

He absolutely demolished that terribly located, 88 MPH fastball, and everyone in the stadium, from the announcer to the pitcher, knew *immediately* what had happened.

And make no mistake, this is not a small playing field. Left-center at George Steinbrenner Field, where this ball was hit, is listed at 399 feet (!) from home plate – that’s center field in most Major League ball parks. And even with that immense distance, Sanchez hit it *over* the enormous video board and framing beyond the wall.

Seriously, that might’ve been the most crushed ball I’ve ever seen.

written by

Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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