Trevor Story Crushed The Longest Home Run Ever Recorded By Statcast, And It Was Only One Of Three Homers He Hit Last Night
On Wednesday morning, we recorded Episode 58 of Starting 9 (download and listen here), and had a conversation about where Trevor Story ranks amongst major league shortstops. He’s also been on the show (Episode 48; check it out). We all agreed that he’s a top five shortstop in baseball right now, but he doesn’t get nearly the same love as guys like Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, Manny Machado, etc. Are you paying attention now?
Just a few hours after we debated where he ranks among all major league shortstops, Story went 3-for-4 with three home runs, one of which was a 505-foot BOMB, the longest home run ever recorded by Statcast. For those wondering, Statcast has only been around since 2015, so surely longer home runs have been hit. Still, a very impressive feat regardless of the fact that it was hit in Colorado. A lot of elite power hitters have come through Coors Field over the last four seasons, and none of them have hit a ball as far as Story did last night.
The most important part is that the Rockies won the game, as they’re currently entrenched in the tightest division race in baseball in the NL West. With the Mets taking care of the Dodgers and the Dbacks having the night off, the Rockies now hold a game and a half lead on LA and a two-game lead on Arizona with 23 games to go, thirteen of which are against the Dodgers and Dbacks. In fact, their next seven games are against them — three against the Dodgers and four against the Dbacks, all at Coors Field.
The Rockies have now won five straight and have the second best record in baseball since August 10 when they entered play three and a half games back of first place. Who’s leading the charge for Colorado? Trevor. Fucking. Story. Over their 17-7 charge to first place, Story is hitting .337 with a 1.027, both of which lead the team. He also leads the team with 8 doubles and 7 homers over that span. He leads the whole National League in doubles, actually, with 39.
His 75 extra-base hits lead the National League, just behind JD Martinez (76) and Alex Bregman (77) for the major league lead, and his 300 total bases lead the NL, trailing only Martinez (325) for the major league lead. That’s a longwinded way of saying that Story is one of the game’s premiere hitters and I feel like not a whole lot of people realize that for whatever reason — same team as Nolan Arenado, playing half a season at Coors Field, being on a team that not many people recognized as a major player at the start of the season.
Whatever your excuse is, it’s invalid. Story is a special player beyond just the shortstop conversation, and he’s essentially strapped a rocket ship to the Rockies, powering them to the finish line in the NL West.