Things are getting closer to the top half of the list as we count towards the longest home run hit by the Cincinnati Reds during the 2019 season. The home run we’re looking at today comes in at #6 on the list, hit by Eugenio Suarez.
It’s not the first entry on the list by Eugenio Suarez, and it’s not the last, either. This one came on August 6th. That game also featured the previous entry on the list, a 448-foot homer from Aristides Aquino. That week was full of long homers, featuring four of the ten longest homers of the season for Cincinnati. On this day Eugenio Suarez took a 3-2 change up from Jose Suarez and deposited that bad boy deep into the upper deck.
The Video
The Metrics Behind The Blast
The change up from Jose Suarez came in at 82 MPH and it left at 111 MPH. It was a tough day for Jose Suarez, who gave up three home runs on the day, including two of them that went 440+ feet.
Distance Metrics
Reds Rank: 6th
Major League Baseball Rank: 167th
Eugenio Suarez 2019 Rank: 3rd
Other Metrics
Launch Angle: 26.5°
Exit Velocity: 110.8 MPH
Reds Exit Velocity Rank (on home runs): 7th
The Story Behind The Blast
The Reds were trailing 3-0 when Eugenio Suarez would get them on the board in the bottom of the 1st inning. Facing off against 21-year-old rookie pitcher Jose Suarez, the Cincinnati third baseman clobbered a change up on a full count deep into the bleachers at Great American Ballpark. As noted in the last article in this series, Jose Suarez gave up home runs at a higher rate than nearly every pitcher in baseball – 2.6 home runs per 9-innings pitched during the season.
The home run was the first of the month for Eugenio Suarez. He would homer in three of the next four games. It was just one of ten home runs he would hit during the month of August, putting him on a pace to challenge the single season record for home runs hit by a Venezuelan born player – a record he would set later in the season.
You can follow along the entire series here.