The third installment in the countdown of the longest home runs of the year hit by the Cincinnati Reds during the 2019 season is here. This home run is in a virtual tie with the #9 and #10 home runs on the list, hit by Eugenio Suarez and Aristides Aquino.
The 8th longest home run of the season in 2019 by a Reds player came on July 3rd. That’s when Yasiel Puig unloaded on a Jhoulys Chacin 1-1 fastball and put it deep into the left-center field seats.
The Video
The Metrics Behind The Blast
The home run, as noted above, was tied with two others on the Reds at 445 feet. Jhoulys Chacin decided to try and get a fastball by Yasiel Puig, but at 90.6 MPH, that wasn’t happening on this particular day. It left the plate at 108 MPH – a difference of 17.4 MPH on the entry and exit velocities.
Distance Metrics
Reds Rank: 10th (tie)
Major League Baseball Rank: 268th (tie)
Yasiel Puig 2019 Rank: 3rd
Other Metrics
Launch Angle: 21.7°
Exit Velocity: 108.0 MPH
Reds Exit Velocity Rank (on home runs): 20th
The Story Behind The Blast
Yasiel Puig was leading off the bottom of the second inning of a scoreless game. In a 1-1 count Jhoulys Chacin went with the old #1, the fastball. Unfortunately for him, his old #1 is one of the worst pitches in baseball. During the 2019 season the pitch was -26.7 runs for Chacin, which was actually the least valuable pitch in baseball according to Fangraphs last year.
The home run put the Reds up 1-0. That run turned out to be pivotal on this Wednesday, as Chacin and Sonny Gray dueled for the first six innings of the day. That was all that either pitcher had given up until the seventh inning, in a game in which the Reds would ultimately win 3-0.
It was the second straight game with a home run for Yasiel Puig. It was his 19th of the year, and came near the start of a hot streak. From July 2nd through the 20th he hit .386/.400/.719 in 14 games.
You can follow along the entire series here.
Hope they get Puig back. I would take my chances with Puig and Aquino in the corners and a speedster like Siri in center
A nearer wall at GABP for Senzel to try and avoid.
Puig and Aquino are almost the same player. A better acquisition would be Corey Dickerson. Platoon in left with Winker/Ervin, Senzel in center and a platoon of Aquino/Dickerson in right. This plus adding bullpen arms is the minimum movement needed for a small improvement in 2020. Of course I’d love to see the Reds add Wheeler, Betts and Lindor, but…. Deciding on a middle infield would go a long way to toward stabilizing the team.