ESPN More Sports

ESPN's Home Run Tracker analyzes video of each home run hit this season and as far back as 2006. Each month, the tracker will detail the best and worst home runs, as well as some other interesting statistics pertaining to the long ball. Below are the notable home runs for the month of April.

Power Surge: (Player with highest combined HR distance)
2011 Winner: Jose Bautista
March/April Winner: Matt Kemp
Kemp is off to a torrid start, with 12 home runs that have traveled a true distance of 4,802 feet. That’s a longer true distances than the Padres, who have hit 11 home runs, and the Cubs, who have hit the fewest HR (9) entering May. Kemp's 12 home runs are two shy of the record set by Albert Pujols in 2006 and Alex Rodriguez in 2007 for the most home runs by April 30.

No Doubter (Longest true distance)
2011 Winner: Prince Fielder (486 feet)
March/April Winner: Travis Hafner (481 feet)
On April 15, Cleveland’s DH hit a home run of the Royals Luis Mendoza, the longest HR of his career. Hafner’s previous long was 454 feet in 2006. The 481-foot shot is the longest HR by an Indian since the beginning of our database (2006).

Wall-Scraper (Shortest true distance)
2011 Winner: Asdrubal Cabrera (320 feet)
March/April Winner: B.J. Upton (323 feet)
On April 24, Upton hit a home run off Ervin Santana that hit off the left-field foul pole. Chris Iannetta hit a 324-foot HR off Phil Hughes, the only other player this season to hit a home run less than 345 feet.

Moonshot: (Highest Apex - maximum vertical height a ball reaches)
2011 Winner: Mark Reynolds (161 feet)
March/April Winner: Todd Helton (162 feet)
On April 14, Helton hit a walk-off home run off J.J. Putz. The ball hung in the air for 6.92 seconds, the highest apex HR since Alex Rodriguez reached 169 feet on Sept 11, 2009.

Liner: (Lowest Apex)
2011 Winner: Carlos Peguero (39 feet, twice)
March/April Winners: Curtis Granderson/Luke Scott (49 feet)
Ervin Santana, who gave up the shortest HR of the month, also gave up the lowest apex. On April 13, Santana served up a 349-foot solo shot to Granderson that had an apex of 49 feet. Scott matched Granderson with a 387-foot laser off Mark Lowe, which also never got higher than 49 feet off the ground.

Mother Nature: (Most climate-impacted HR)
2011 Winner: Luke Scott
March/April Winner: Miguel Cabrera
Even the best need help from time to time. On April 26, Cabrera hit a 382-foot home run off Hector Noesi, but a 15 mph wind gust helped the ball carry an extra 62 feet. Without the wind, it would have been a routine fly out.

Server: (Pitcher who allowed the greatest cumulative distance)
2011 Winner: Bronson Arroyo
March/April Winner: Ervin Santana
In addition to giving up the shortest and the lowest apex home runs, Santana’s 10 home runs allowed traveled a total distance of 3,844 feet.

Launching Pad: (Greatest cumulative distance in one stadium)
2011 Winner: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
March/April Winner: Rogers Centre
Thirty-eight HR have been hit in Rogers Centre thus far, with a total distance of 15,072 feet. Chase Field in Arizona finished second, totaling 12,803 feet. Conversely, only six HR were hit at AT&T Park in April.

Luke Scott: Signs one-year deal with Tampa Bay Rays
The player that the Rays hope they signed is the Scott of 2010, the one who prior to shoulder surgery in 2011, was one of the best power hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching.

That season, Scott was a fastball masher. His batting average (.372) and OPS (1.130) against fastballs, cutters, and sinkers from right-handers were each sixth-best in baseball, alongside the likes of Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto.

He was arguably the best hitter in baseball against hard stuff from righties in the lower-third of the strike zone and below.

He netted 41 hits and made only 37 outs when he made contact against such pitches. That included 11 doubles and five home runs. His miss rate of only 13 percent was three percentage points below the league average.

Scott’s numbers against right-handed pitching in 2010 represent a significant upgrade from those that the man he’s replacing at designated hitter, Johnny Damon, put up against right-handers last season (see chart on right).

-- Mark Simon

Paul Maholm: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
The 29 year-old Maholm, who rebounded from a dismal 5.10 ERA in 2010 to record a career-best 3.66 ERA in 2011, faces a stiff challenge in trying to repeat that breakout performance in Chicago.

Maholm is a worm-burning specialist, posting a ground-ball rate of over 50 percent in each of the last three seasons. Last season, he was most successful at getting outs on grounders up the middle.

That trend was hardly surprising given the defensive strengths of his two primary middle infielders, Ronny Cedeno and Neil Walker.

Cedeno ranked as the third-best shortstop turning batted balls into outs last season with a Plus-Minus rating of +15 overall. He was at his best on balls hit to his left, where he converted nine more balls into outs than the average shortstop.

Walker was below average overall in making outs, but most of his problems were in getting to balls hit to the first base/second base hole (-18). When going after balls hit up the middle, he converted an incredible 24 more of them into outs than the average second baseman.

Maholm now joins a Cubs team that is expected to have Starlin Castro at shortstop and Darwin Barney at second base in 2012. Castro was one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league and his biggest shortcoming was on balls hit up the middle, where he turned eight fewer balls into outs.

Barney ranked in the middle-of-the-pack defensively but his only strength was in getting to balls hit to the first base hole (+4). When going to his right on balls up the middle, Barney was below average, making two fewer plays than the average second baseman.

-- Katie Sharp

Kerry Wood: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
Wood got hit a bit harder in 2011 than he did in 2010 and much of the damage was done against pitches over the middle-third of the plate, height-wise.

Of the 16 extra-base hits Wood allowed last season, 13 of them came on pitches to that area. He only allowed three extra-base hits on pitches to that area in 2010.

Yet there is optimism for the Cubs with this deal as Wood showed considerable improvement in one critical area – limiting walks.

He cut his walks per nine innings nearly in half and much of the decline came against lefties. After walking nearly one-quarter of the lefties he faced in 2010, Wood walked only one out of every 10 opposite-handed batters in 2011.

Wood made the biggest jump in his ability to throw strikes against lefties when the count was full. In 2010, fewer than two-thirds of the 28 pitches he threw on a 3-2 count were strikes; in 2011, he threw 27 of his 29 3-2 pitches for strikes.

Because of that, he walked just two of the 19 lefties that reached full counts last season, after allowing more than half (10 of 19) to take a base in 2010.

-- Mark Simon and Katie Sharp

ESPN's Home Run Tracker analyzes video of each home run hit this season. Each month, the tracker will detail the best and worst home runs, as well as some other interesting statistics pertaining to the long ball. Below are the notable home runs in the months of March and April.

Wall-Scraper: Shortest True Distance
March/April Winner: Sam Fuld, Tampa Bay Rays
Fuld’s 323-foot home run off of Daisuke Matsuzaka on April 11 took just 3.32 seconds to leave the yard. Fortunately for Fuld, his blast came while playing at Fenway Park, the only park that particular batted ball would have been a home run in. Believe it or not, Shane Victorino’s inside-the-park home run April 24 hit of Wade LeBlanc traveled 346 feet.

Moonshot: Highest Apex (Apex: maximum vertical height ball reaches)
March/April Winner: Luke Scott, Baltimore Orioles
Although they drop jaws for their height, “moonshot” home runs tend to produce true distances that are far from astonishing. Such is the case for Scott’s fifth-inning home run off Cleveland’s Josh Tomlin on April 16. It traveled just 339 feet, but was hit 148 feet in the air. Scott’s home run took 6.39 seconds to clear the fence, nearly 1.5 seconds longer than the league average (4.85 seconds).

Line Drive: Lowest Apex
March/April Winner: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
Bautista’s home run off Tampa Bay’s David Price on April 23 had an apex of just 46 feet. In 3.56 seconds, Bautista’s shot traveled 383 feet.

Fast-ball: Fastest Speed Off Bat
March/April Winner: Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks
There are many things that can’t travel 116.7 mph, including a large number of automobiles. But that was the speed that ball traveled off Upton’s second-inning homer on April 12 off the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter.

Player Power Surge: Most Combined Distance by One Player
March/April Winner: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers
Braun tallied 4,089 feet of total home run distance for the months of March and April, squeaking past Alfonso Soriano by 70 feet. Both Braun and Soriano hit 10 home runs in March and April. Five of Braun’s 10 home runs traveled more than 420 feet, including a pair that went 444 and 445 feet.

Server of the Month: Most Combined Distance Allowed by One Pitcher
March/April Winner: Armando Galarraga, Arizona Diamondbacks
The “Imperfect Game” winner has been far from perfect this season. In 28 innings in the month of April, Galarraga allowed 11 home runs (currently on pace to allow 71) that have traveled 4,400 feet.

Wackiest: Most Improbable
March/April Winner: Miguel Olivo, Seattle Mariners
Give an assist to Detroit Tigers outfielder Ryan Raburn on this one. Olivo’s second-inning shot off Phil Coke was about 10 feet short of being a home run, but Raburn’s glove deflected the ball over the fence at spacious Comerica Park. With an apex of just 45 feet, Olivo’s “home run” should win the award for Line Drive of the Month. But, because it required some assistance from Raburn, wackiest is more apropos.

Let's take a look at some notes from around baseball on Tuesday night:

• The New York Yankees hit five HR for the second time this season in their win at the Toronto Blue Jays. It's the first time the Yanks have hit five HR at Toronto since 2004.

• Derek Jeter hit his 10th HR, and now has 10+ HR and 10+ SB in 15 consecutive seasons. In MLB history (according to the Elias Sports Bureau), only Barry Bonds has a longer such streak. Bonds did this in 16 straight seasons from 1986 to 2001.

• The Chicago Cubs improved to 2-0 under Mike Quade with their win over the Washington Nationals. Alfonso Soriano smacked his 20th HR, giving him nine straight 20-HR seasons. That is tied for the third-longest active streak in baseball. Alex Rodriguez (15 straight season) and Albert Pujols (10) have the only two longer streaks.

• Also for the Cubs, Tyler Colvin hit his 19th HR. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is tied for the third-most HR by a rookie in Cubs history. Only Billy Williams (25) and Geovany Soto (23) have ever hit more. Ernie Banks is one of three others to also hit 19.

• The Pittsburgh Pirates knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3. It's the second time in the last week that the Cardinals lost a one-run game, leaving the bases loaded with two outs in the ninth inning.

• The New York Mets topped the Florida Marlins with Luis Castillo's walk-off single. It's Castillo's seventh career walk-off hit (third with the Mets). It's just the third walk-off loss of the season for the Marlins (only the Yankees have fewer).

• The Oakland Athletics topped the Cleveland Indians, 5-0, as Gio Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings. Athletics starters have tossed a franchise-record 16 consecutive quality starts. Gonzalez is 4-0 with a 0.89 ERA in five career starts vs the Indians.

• The Detroit Tigers knocked off the Kansas City Royals, 9-1. Detroit has now won five straight, outscoring its opponents 40-7 during this streak. Miguel Cabrera drove in his MLB-leading 104th run of the season, surpassing his total from last season.

• The Texas Rangers defeated the Minnesota Twins, 4-3. Josh Hamilton hit his 29th HR and has now driven in a run in five straight games for the fifth time in his career. Neftali Feliz notched his 32nd save, which is the fourth-most by a rookie since saves became an official stat in 1969.

• The Chicago White Sox topped the Baltimore Orioles, but Luke Scott hit his 25th HR for Baltimore, matching the career high he set last season. He's the first Oriole with 25+ HR in back-to-back seasons since Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora in 2004-05. His 13 HR since the All-Star Break are the most by anyone not named Jose Bautista.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 599th home run on July 22. He hit No. 600 Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays after a span of 46 at-bats and 51 plate appearances. That is the longest drought between number 599 and 600 in MLB history. The previous longest drought was 21 at-bats by Willie Mays. Here are some home run facts from that time period.



During the drought, Rodriguez saw 209 pitches. Meanwhile, 322 home runs were hit by 187 different players. The Yankees hit 17 home runs as a team, led by Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher who hit five longballs each.

Maybe Alex Rodriguez was stuck on 599 for so long because he wanted the situation to be exactly right... as in exactly like it was when he hit home run number 500. Both happened on August 4th at home. Both were in the 1st inning of games in which Phil Hughes was starting.

Today’s Trivia: Cubs manager Lou Piniella announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the season. Piniella made his managerial debut on April 8, 1986 when his Yankees hosted Kansas City. Who was the opposing starting pitcher?

Quick Hits: A quick look at some newsworthy hits from around baseball:

There were four games on Tuesday in which a team won after trailing by at least four runs. It’s the first time four teams came from behind to win in that fashion on the same day since April 19, 2006:

TUESDAY’S MLB COMEBACKS

Red Sox at Athletics: Oakland trailed Boston 4-0 after two innings, but shut down the Red Sox the rest of the way. The A’s won the game with 2 outs in the 10th inning for their fifth walk-off win of the season.

Giants at Dodgers: Down the coast in LA, the Dodgers jumped all over Tim Lincecum and led 5-1 after five innings before the Giants came back, capped by a bizarre 3-run 9th inning for a 7-5 win.

Rays at Orioles: In Baltimore, the Orioles trailed 8-4 AND overcame ninth-inning and extra-inning deficits in their 11-10 win over the Rays. Baltimore’s the only team that’s won a game this season when trailing in both the ninth inning and in extra innings.

Astros at Cubs: At Wrigley, it looked as if it was going to be another long night for the Cubs. Houston led 6-0 and 7-1 before Aramis Ramirez exploded for three home runs in the Cubs' 14-7 win.

There were seven ejections (player/manager/coach) on Tuesday, the most in a single day this season: NYY Joe Girardi, PIT John Russell, LAD Bob Schaefer, LAD Clayton Kershaw, LAD Joe Torre, OAK Coco Crisp, BOS John Farrell

Aramis Ramirez hit three home runs and drove in seven in the Cubs' 14-7 win over Houston. It was the fourth three-HR game of his career, the most by a third baseman in the live ball era (1920). He's the first Cub to hit three HR in a game since Alfonso Soriano on Sept. 6, 2008, and the first Cub with three HR and at least RBI in a game since Sammy Sosa (3 HR, 9 RBI) on Aug. 10, 2002. Aramis Ramirez, who had six HR and 23 RBI through the month of June (53 games), has nine HR and 24 RBI in 15 games this month.

From the Baltimore Sun: In Tuesday's second inning against Tampa Bay's Matt Garza, the Orioles hit three consecutive homers for the first time since doing it against the California Angels on Sept. 5, 1995 — the same day Cal Ripken Jr. tied Lou Gehrig's record of consecutive games played at 2,130. In that game, it was Jeff Manto, Mark Smith and Brady Anderson who went deep consecutively. On Tuesday, it was Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones who homered to give the Orioles a 3-0 lead.

FROM ELIAS: Chris Carpenter got the win and Andrew Carpenter the loss in the Cardinals’ 7-1 win over the Phillies. The last game in which the winning and losing pitchers each had the same surname was when Jeff Weaver bested his brother Jered on June 20 of last season.

From Chicago Tribune: White Sox reliever J.J. Putz, returning to his first major league city, set a franchise record by making his 25th consecutive scoreless outing.

From the Miami Herald: A victory by Ricky Nolasco on Wednesday would give him 50 as a Marlin and move him into second on the team's all-time list behind Dontrelle Willis, who recorded 68. But Nolasco has done his best pitching on the road, not at home. Nolasco has gone 30-18 with a 4.23 ERA on the road but only 19-19 with a 4.78 ERA at Sun Life Stadium, and all four of his career complete games have been on the road.

From the Philadelphia Daily News: The Phillies have scored 3 or fewer runs in 45 of their 93 games this season, 48.4 percent.

Today’s Leaderboard: The Baltimore Orioles (four) and Tampa Bay Rays (three) combined to hit seven solo HR in the O’s 11-10 extra-inning win Tuesday night. Tampa Bay and Baltimore are now fifth and tied for sixth, respectively, in the AL in team solo HR. With his 2 solo HR, Baltimore’s Luke Scott moved into a tie for 4th in the AL in most solo HR this season.

Key Matchup: The Cubs’ Derrek Lee is hitting .469 (15-for-32, 3 HR) in his career against Houston’s Brett Myers. His average against Myers is the second-highest of his career against any of the 33 pitchers he’s had at least 30 plate appearances against. Only his .486 average (17-for-35) against Jason Marquis is better. Lee is 0-for-3 against Myers this season.

Trivia Answer: Current San Diego manager Bud Black. Black, who spent 15 years in the majors with five teams, went seven innings, allowing six hits and four earned runs as he took the loss. As a side note, Black’s former pitching coach in San Francisco, Dave Righetti, earned the save in New York’s 4-2 win.

It should come as no surprise that Angels catcher Mike Napoli homered in their game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that his career OPS against the Yankees coming into tonight's game was 1.142. That's the highest OPS vs the Yankees in the live-ball era (since 1920) among those with at least 85 PA.

The Baltimore Orioles put on an impressive offense explosion against Tampa Bay tonight. Especially Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones who hit back-to-back-to-back HR in the bottom of the second inning. It ties a record for the most consecutive HR for the Orioles in a game (done 6 times previously).The most recent occurrence before Tuesday: September 5, 1995 vs the California Angels (Jeff Manto, Mark Smith and Brady Anderson did the trick). Even more notable from September 5, 1995 for the Orioles? Cal Ripken tied Lou Gehrig's streak for consecutive games played at 2,130.

But the most notable and impressive trend that has continued on Tuesday night so far? Armando Galarraga struggled once again, which is nothing new since his memorable shutout and near-perfect game of the Cleveland Indians on June 2. Since that "Jim Joyce Game", Galarraga is 1-2 with a 5.61 ERA in his six starts.


While it didn't go down in the books as a perfecto, Galarraga may be suffering from the same curse that is affecting those pitchers who DID pitch perfect games the last two seasons. Mark Buehrle was 10-3 last season when he twirled his gem on July 23, 2009, and since then he is just 4-9. Roy Halladay is 3-5 since his perfect game on May 29 and has dropped his last three starts. And then there's Dallas Braden who is 0-5 since his history-making effort on May 9.

Braden is pitching against the Boston Red Sox later tonight as he hopes to end this strange curse.

Some of Wednesday's best notes from around the big leagues...

Why Cardinals Starter Adam Wainwright Won:
- Stayed ahead of hitters: against 25 batters, threw 18 first-pitch strikes (72 percent) and reached a 2-0 count just twice (8 percent).
- Hitters went 0-7 (3 K) vs curveball (.122 BA against curve in 2009).

Why Rays Starter Matt Garza Won:
- Kept himself in the game: 8 innings pitched is longest of season by a starter and Garza's longest in his last 12 starts.
- Good slider control: 79 percent for strikes (11-14) and 57 percent of pitches out of the zone were chased by hitters.
- Lefty power shut down: Orioles left-handed hitters were 1-16 (.063), including Nick Markakis and Luke Scott (combined 0-7, 4 K).

Hitter of the Night:
Edgar Renteria, SF: 5-5, BB, 2 RBI.
- 4th career 5-hit game, including 2 hits off curveballs. Through 2 games this season, he has 3 hits against curveballs.
- Renteria was 3-31 (.097) against curveballs last season. He obviously did some work this offseason as he is a perfect 3-3 in 2010 against Uncle Charlie.