Jesús Sánchez Hits Longest Home Run of the ’22 Season

Jesús Sánchez has gone the distance…

The 24-year-old Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Miami Marlins obliterated a slider from Colorado Rockies starter Ryan Feltner halfway up the third and upper deck in right field in the second inning.

Jesús Sánchez The ball traveled 496 feet, making it the longest home run ever hit at Coors Field by a left-handed hitter, and the second longest by any hitter, trailing only Giancarlo Stanton’s 504-foot shot in 2016.

Sánchez’s blast is also the longest home run in Major League Baseball this year, passing Mike Trout’s 472-foot one on April 14 in Arlington.

“It’s just monumental,” said Marlins manager Don Mattingly after the Marlins’ 7-1 loss to the Rockies in their series opener at Coors Field on Monday afternoon. “You don’t get that feeling more than a couple times in your lifetime.”

“You’ll hit some more [into the upper deck],” Mattingly said. “But not very many like that one. I’d like to see a picture from where that ball landed. It probably looks like it’s two blocks away.”

Sánchez entered Monday’s game in need of a big hit. Following a strong April, he was hitting just .151/.205/.260 over 78 May plate appearances when he stepped to the plate in the second inning.

What he did in his first plate appearance on Monday certainly fit the category of “big hit.” In fact, it was a clout. He hit it so well, it’s tied for the third-longest homer that Statcast has ever tracked (Aaron Judge hit a 496-foot shot in 2017, and Miguel Sanó also had one in ’19). The only home runs that were longer were the 504-foot shot by Stanton at Coors Field in 2016, and a 505-foot drive by Nomar Mazara at Globe Life Park in ’19.

It wasn’t exactly surprising to Sánchez, who said he hit one 508 feet in the minors. But it was very special, nonetheless.

“It was something incredible,” he said through an interpreter. “I didn’t know it was that big of a magnitude, but it was something great.”

Click here to see the homer.

Yadier Molina Leads MLB All-Stars to Victory Over Japan

Yadier Molina has help the MLB All-Stars get an important win against Japan…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player, a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, had three hits, including a three-run homer, to help the MLB All-Stars defeat Japan 7-3 on Sunday for their first win of the six-game exhibition series after a pair of defeats.

Yadier MolinaJ.T. Realmuto hit an opposite-field solo home run to right field in the fourth at Tokyo Dome, and Mitch Haniger scored the go-ahead run from second in a four-run fifth when Japan starter Shinsaburo Tawata threw wildly for an error.

One out later, Molina chased Tawata with an opposite-field, three-run homer to right for a 5-1 lead.

The nine-time Gold Glove catcher picked off Seiji Uebayashi in the fourth inning.

“I felt like Yadi’s pick at first was huge,” MLB manager Don Mattingly said. “We got in a little bit of a jam, pitch count is starting to climb, then Yadi’s pick.”

Rookie Juan Soto hit a fly ball in the fourth that was headed for the seats but hit the roof and was caught by right fielder Shogo Akiyama. Soto also hit the roof in Thursday’s warm-up game against the Yomiuri Giants.

Winner Scott Barlow allowed one run and five hits in 4 1/3 innings and 65 pitches, striking out four.

“Having Yadi back there makes my life a lot easier,” Barlow said. “I trust him very much, and I trusted my defense as well. Not being afraid of contact and letting them run down balls and make their plays.”

Eugenio Suarez hit an RBI double over Uebayashi in left in a two-run seventh then scored on Haniger’s single to open a 7-1 lead.

Hotaka Yamakawa and Ryosuke Kikuchi hit run-scoring doubles in the ninth against John Brebbia. Tawata took the loss.

The teams play Tuesday in Hiroshima then conclude the following two days in Nagoya.

Giancarlo Stanton Hits 55th Home Run, the Highest Homer Total in a Single Season Since 2006

Giancarlo Stanton is back to his home-run-hitting ways…

The 27-year-old part-Puerto Rican professional baseball player, a slugger with the Miami Marlins, slugged No. 55 on the season in the team’s 13-1 rout of the New York Mets.

Giancarlo Stanton

Batting third for the first time this year, Stanton’s three-run shot came off Mets right-hander Matt Harvey in the fourth inning.

It ended a six-game, 29-at-bat home run “drought” for the Marlins outfielder. That was the most games Stanton had gone without hitting a home run since a 14-game span from May 9 to 24.

“I thought he looked better, obviously,” manager Don Mattingly said.

Stanton’s homer total is the highest since Ryan Howard hit 58 in 2006. He added a run-scoring single in Miami’s seven-run fifth inning.

Stanton came into the game batting .147 in his previous 19 games. He has been rested and held out of the starting lineup three times in the past 10 games, including Sunday, when he asked to sit out. The break helped, he said.

“For sure, at this point,” Stanton said. “Early in the year when you have a day off, you kind of feel sluggish afterward. With all the miles we’ve tallied up through the year, it feels good to have them now.”

Gonzalez Returning to Miami Marlins as Third-Base Coach

Fredi Gonzalez is returning to Miami…

The 52-year-old former professional baseball player and Major League Baseball manager, who was let go from the team in 2010, will return as the Miami Marlins‘ third-base coach, president of baseball operations Michael Hill confirmed Tuesday.

Fredi Gonzalez

Gonzalez was the Marlins’ manager from 2007-10. He finished with a 276-279 record and is atop the Marlins’ all-time list for managerial victories.

The Marlins were 35-36 on June 24, 2010, when owner Jeffrey Loria decided to fire Gonzalez. Loria had expressed playoffs-or-bust expectations in spring training and said “we can do better and be better” when he fired Gonzalez.

Gonzalez and Loria exchanged barbs after he was fired.

In 2012, Gonzalez told the Miami Herald that “there’s not a manager dead or alive that Jeffrey Loria thinks is good enough.” Loria responded by calling Gonzalez’s comments “classless” and saying he was a “colossal failure” as the Marlins’ manager.

In 2011, Gonzalez was named the Atlanta Braves‘ manager, replacing Bobby Cox. He posted a 434-413 record, with two playoff appearances, in Atlanta before he was fired on May 19, after the Braves started the season 9-28.

Gonzalez replaces Lenny Harris as the third-base coach. The Marlins announced after the season that Harris, hitting coach Barry Bonds and bullpen coach Reid Cornelius would not return to manager Don Mattingly‘s staff in 2017.

Mike Pagliarulo was announced as Bonds’ replacement as hitting coach. Pagliarulo was a teammate of Mattingly’s with the New York Yankees from 1984-89.

Pagliarulo will work with assistant hitting coach Frank Menechino, who was with the club last season.

The Marlins haven’t yet named a replacement for Cornelius.