Before yesterday, it had been a little while since Jorge Soler last homered. May 29, to be exact, and, even if you exclude the month he missed with an ankle injury, that was a full 13 games ago for him.
That kind of a lull is a strange thing when you consider how hard Soler hits the ball. Like, one of the hardest hitters in all of baseball hard:
Highest % of batted balls 100 MPH+
Stanton 35.3%
Trout 33.6%
Cespedes 32.3%
Danny Valencia 31.4%
Soler 31.1%http://t.co/gZrMcmqfqj— Daren Willman (@darenw) July 18, 2015
Soler also has the 6th highest average exit velocity on his ball strikes, at 93.42 mph, behind only some guys named Stanton, Pederson, Cespedes, Cabrera, and Braun, and just ahead of some guys named Trout and Goldschmidt.
So, then, it probably shouldn’t surprise you that, when Soler finally did hit a homer yesterday, it was a freaking rocket at 108 mph. You can watch the homer here (not currently embeddable), and you immediately notice that the ball gets out in a hurry despite going 425 feet. That’s because, according to the Home Run Tracker, the ball’s apex reached only 65 feet, some 30 feet lower than your typical homer.
In other words, Soler’s homer yesterday was an absolute freaking bullet, not unlike most balls Soler hits these days.
No, the overall numbers aren’t there yet for Soler, 23, but he’s doing things that most players only dream about. He’s special, and deserves some patience.
Speaking of Soler’s awesomeness, I should remind you that you can win a signed Soler bat – I’m looking at it right now – just by signing up for today’s $300,000 fantasy contest. Any new DraftKings user from BN is eligible to win the bat, and, if you do well enough in the contest, you can also win cash (winner gets $100,000(!)) and a BN shirt. It’s free to play if you make your first deposit. So, sign up for the contest here. Full details on the contest here. The games start at 6pm CT, so don’t miss out!