HitTrackerOnline.com is a website that calculates how far home run shots
would have traveled had their flight paths not been interrupted by another
object before returning to field level. It calculates the two three-run
homers that Justin Upton blasted Wednesday night as combining for 878 feet.
Upton's first shot, which would have traveled approximately 420 feet if it
had kept going, brought the Diamondbacks within one run of the Marlins after the
Fish got out to a 4-0 lead early. His second, calculated at a whopping 458
feet, came in the 13th inning to break an 8-8 tie. Those three runs gave
the D-backs an 11-9 win in extras. Upton went 4-for-7 with two
homers and six RBI in the game. He had five hits - three for extra bases -
and four runs scored on the day.
“When I felt it off the bat, I knew it was gone and it was a relief knowing
that we were going to the bottom of the 13th with a three-run lead,” Upton said.
“That was probably one of the better ones I’ve ever caught.”
“I think that was probably the farthest ball that I’ve ever seen hit,” closer
Chad Qualls added. “Whenever I come to Florida I’m going to tell everybody that
Justin hit a ball there.”
That second tater was even longer than the mammoth shot he clubbed in
Milwaukee, according to HitTrackerOnline, though each homer is the longest of
the season thus far at those respective ballparks. The 458-footer is tied
for the 10th-longest homer hit by a major leaguer this season. Eight of the nine
homers Upton has hit this year have projected for over 400 feet. The one
he belted off former teammate Randy Johnson this April at Chase Field is the
second best in baseball this year in terms of estimated velocity off the bat.
It is easy to forget that Upton is just 21-years old. How prodigious
and frequent will his homers become once this young man hits his prime?
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