MLB

Let's Watch Nomar Mazara Crush a Record-Setting Home Run

The Rangers' rookie, who is off to a scorching start, smacked a 491-foot dinger on Wednesday. And it was glorious.

Nothing I can say is going to prepare you for what you're about to see. And let's be honest, you don't want to hear from me right now.

Let's get to the destruction.

Come for the obliteration of a baseball. Stay for the fun numbers.

With a nice, smooth swing, Texas Rangers' rookie outfielder Nomar Mazara crushed a 491-foot bomb, per Statcast, on an 83 mile-per-hour curveball from Los Angeles Angels' lefty Hector Santiago (#RIP). The pitch velocity is the slowest for any home run among the top 10 longest jacks of the year, meaning Mazara had to provide a good bit of the power by his lonesome. The tape-measure shot was the longest home run of the season and surpassed Josh Hamilton's 490-foot tater from 2010 as the longest blast in the history of Globe Life Park.

Batter Distance (feet) Exit Velocity (mph) Launch Angle (degrees) Height (feet) Victim Pitch Speed (mph)
Nomar Mazara 491 107.8 26.9 102 Hector Santiago 83.4
Giancarlo Stanton 475 112.8 21.9 80.2 Hector Neris 87.2
Franklin Gutierrez 473 112.1 29.4 106.4 John Lamb 89.9
Hanley Ramirez 468 113.6 22.7 83 Sean Manaea 93.7
Jordy Mercer 466 105.7 25.4 82.8 Patrick Corbin 86.1
Miguel Sano 464 110.4 29.1 117.3 Josh Tomlin 90.7
Giancarlo Stanton 462 116.8 23.5 89.1 Chase Anderson 82.4
Nolan Arenado 462 104.6 28.6 102 James Shields 84.6
Miguel Cabrera 462 110.7 25.1 91.9 Mike Wright 94
Carlos Correa 462 113.6 23.8 79.3 Michael Pineda 86.3


Mazara said he "put a good swing on it," which is like saying Aaron Rodgers throws a decent spiral or Stephen Curry can shoot it a little bit.

A very hard-working field reporter from Fox Sports Southwest abided by his hashtag and tracked down the recipients of Mazara's missile.

A pair of things about this photo amaze me. The two fans are alive, and they're so incredibly far away from home plate. I mean, look at the players in the background! I've looked outside of an airplane window and seen bigger people.

This moonshot gives us a chance to highlight Mazara's stellar season, which, honestly, is long overdue. The 21-year-old is going straight scorched-earth policy on the American League since making his debut on April 10.

He owns a .320/.365/.500 triple-slash line with a .371 wOBA, 8 homers and 27.4% line-drive rate. His 7.2% walk rate and 18.0% strikeout rate are both promising for a young player. Mazara has racked up 1.2 Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs, in just 39 games, which puts him on pace for a 5-win season over a full 162-game campaign. He's been the second-best player on a good Rangers team.

Byung-Ho Park is putting up a fight, but Mazara is threatening to run away away with Rookie of the Year honors in the American League, leading the race in wOBA, runs and RBI.

Mazara's quick start and Ian Desmond's resurgence are two big reasons Texas has been able to succeed despite getting very little production from Prince Fielder (.246 wOBA) and Mitch Moreland (.293 wOBA). The Rangers were 3-4 before calling up Mazara, and they're 24-16 since. At 27-20, Texas occupies the top wild card spot in the American League and sits just 1.5 games behind the Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

With Cole Hamels (25.3% strikeout rate) doing his thing and the impending return of Yu Darvish scheduled for this weekend, the Rangers may be the team to beat in the American League West, especially if Fielder's recent signs of life signal a turnaround in his play. For now, our team rankings have Texas ranked 20th with a 39.4% chance of making the playoffs and 21.9% odds of winning the division.