Quite a scary thought for MLB pitchers: Mike Trout, the game’s best player, is only getting better. And he may continue to get better for a while, as he’s just 22 years old (!).
The Angels outfielder came into Friday’s night game against the Royals with a career-best and AL-leading OPS (on-base + slugging) of 1.008, before doing this:
That’s a 489-foot home run into the fountains at Kauffman Stadium. 489 freaking feet.
Angels color commenator Mark Gubicza said how that ball landed in “Bo Jackson territory” (Gubicza ironically played with Jackson on the Royals from 1986-1990), but Jackson never even hit a home run that far at Kauffman Stadium; Jackson’s longest home run on record at the stadium was 475 feet in 1986.
More eye-opening facts about Trout’s mammoth blast (information via ESPN):
- The longest home run in Kauffman Stadium since at least 2006 (when ESPN began tracking home run distance), surpassing a 481-foot homer hit there by Travis Hafner in 2012.
- The longest home run by the Angels since at least 2006, surpassing a 484-foot homer hit by Vladimir Guerrero that season.
- The longest home run in MLB since Giancarlo Stanton’s 494-foot homer on August 17, 2012.
- The longest home run in the AL since at least 2006, surpassing Edwin Encarnacion’s 488-foot homer in 2012.
