Aaron Judge homers where no right-handed batter should in Toronto

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

How did Aaron Judge celebrate being named American League Rookie of the Month for the second straight month? By hitting a monster home run, of course.

The New York Yankees slugger crushed his 18th of the season during Friday’s 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays, and there’s an argument to be made this home run was his most impressive to date.

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Yeah, that’s saying a lot. But how often do we see a batter hit an opposite field home run that lands in the second deck?

The second deck and beyond is typically reserved for pull hitters with power. But that’s the unlikely territory Judge reached against Jays left-hander Francisco Liriano, and it left fans, writers and analysts alike in complete awe.

Aaron Judge (right) celebrates another mammoth home run with Yankees teammate Gary Sanchez. (AP)
Aaron Judge (right) celebrates another mammoth home run with Yankees teammate Gary Sanchez. (AP)

In terms of estimated distance, this Judge home run may have actually broken the system.

According to Statcast, the home run traveled an estimated 403 feet, which wouldn’t even put it among his top ten this season.

ESPN’s Hit Tracker saw things much differently. The official calculated distance there was 448 feet, which would make it Judge’s sixth career homer over 440 feet.

It’s not unusual for those two stat-measuring tools to disagree on a distance. But never is the distance between them that large.

The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. But this isn’t just about the distance. It’s about the power that has to be generated to hit a 90-mph fastball that hard and that far the opposite way.

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If you noticed, the one thing both measuring tools agreed on was the 112 mph exit velocity. That means he got every last bit of that pitch, and it has to make opposing pitchers wonder if there’s ever a good time to throw Aaron Judge a fastball over any part of the plate.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!