Today we are moving forward in this series and are now onto the 9th longest home run hit by a Cincinnati Reds player in the 2024 season. If Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux have taught us anything it’s that everyone loves the long ball. Ok, maybe that wasn’t the exact takeaway from those two guys, but long home runs have been something people have talked about for over a hundred years. Only in the last decade or so, though, have we truly been able to measure their distance with *some* accuracy. Thanks to ball tracking in the big leagues we can compare 1-to-1 how far a baseball went. Every Monday for the next few months we’re going to be counting down the 10 longest home runs hit by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2024 season.
For the second year in a row, Spencer Steer hit the 9th longest home run in the season by a Red. In 2024 he did so on June 5th against Jalen Beeks and the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
The Video
The Metrics Behind The Blast
Jalen Beeks got ahead of Spencer Steer with a first pitch strike. Steer wasn’t going to take another pitch and when Beeks tried to get another fastball in the strikezone, Steer unloaded on it and sent it 439 feet into the seats in left field.
Distance Metrics
Distance: 439 Feet
Reds Ranks: 9th
Major League Baseball Rank: 243rd (tie)
Spencer Steer Rank: 1
Other Metrics
Launch Angle: 30°
Exit Velocity: 105.7 MPH
Reds Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 44th (out of 174)
MLB Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 2057th (out of 5445)
The Story Behind The Blast
Cincinnati was down 7-6 and the game was in the top of the 9th inning. TJ Friedl led off the inning and was hit by a pitch. He moved up to second base on a groundout. A line out followed and put the Reds down to their final out of the game.
Spencer Steer took a fastball for strike one to begin the at-bat. Jalen Beeks tried to get another strike with another fastball at the top of the zone. This time it didn’t work as his 96 MPH fastball at the letters was met with the sweet spot of Steer’s bat and 439 feet later it landed in the stands for a go-ahead 2-run home run.
The Reds just kept on going from there, with the inning culminating on a Jonathan India grand slam. Cincinnati would hang on for a 12-7 win.
You can follow along the entire series here
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