NEWSLETTER
With the wind howling out last night at AT&T Park, the Chicago Cubs put on a homer display, going way deep three times. I know that balls in the air can be impacted significantly by the winds in San Francisco if you get them high enough, but I’ll confess I’m not entirely sure you see the same effect there on typical home run balls as you would, for example, at Wrigley Field.
That is to say, when the Cubs went deep three times last night with no-doubters, I’m not so such the wind had much to do with it.[adinserter block=”1″]
Kris Bryant kicked things off in the second inning, just after the Cubs had goofed on the basepaths and somehow converted a bases-loaded Tommy La Stella rocket off the wall into a mere single, scoring only one, and netting an out. Our “d’oh, Cubes” frustration lasted only a few pitches, because Bryant crushed a three-run shot:
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That shot came off the bat 104.1 mph, per the Home Run Tracker, and went 393 feet out to left. It was Bryant’s 8th of the year, and helped buoy his line on the season to .277/.358/.491. Of particular note on Bryant’s season so far? His ISO now matches that of his rookie year (power is still there), but his strikeout rate has been reduced dramatically, from 30.6% to 20.1%. As we’ve discussed before, Bryant is evolving in incredible ways.
Later in the game, Ben Zobrist went deep for the 6th time this year, and it was one of the best kinds of homers in baseball: the splash down.[adinserter block=”2″]
Zobrist’s 390-foot blast (103.7mph) headed into McCovey Cove:
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Zobrist has such a quick, clean swing that he can really send a ball out when he squares it up, despite not looking like a hulking slugger.
Speaking of guys who look like sluggers, Jorge Soler followed up Zobrist’s shot with a 404-foot blast of his own, which came off the bat at an explosive 108.1mph. You can watch it here.
