With top-ranked Arkansas trailing Georgia by a run in the sixth inning of the rubber game of their early May series, DH Matt Goodheart stepped to the plate to face lefthander Ryan Webb. Goodheart, a left-handed hitter, got ahead in the count 2-0 before Webb threw him a 91 mph fastball low and on the outer half of the plate.
Goodheart didn’t try to do too much with the pitch. He got his bat extended and rocketed the ball to center field, taking aim at the light pole just to the left of the batter’s eye at BaumWalker Stadium. By some estimates, the ball hit three-quarters of the way up the stanchion, higher than the batter’s eye. TrackMan measured the home run to have traveled 460 feet with an exit velocity of 107 mph.
It was, by any definition, a nuke.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ ” Arkansas hitting coach Nate Thompson said. “It was ridiculous. The wind didn’t hurt it, I know that, but I was blown away.”
Thompson said it was the farthest ball he’s ever seen hit at Baum-Walker Stadium. While he hasn’t coached at Arkansas as long as Dave Van Horn, who is in his 19th season as head coach, Thompson has worked with some impressive power hitters in his time, including Heston Kjerstad, the No. 2 overall pick in 2020.
Home runs of epic proportions and otherwise have been flying at Arkansas and across the country all season long. The Division I home run rate has jumped from 0.75 per game in 2019, the last full college season, to 0.85 per game in 2021.
Denne historien er fra June 2021-utgaven av Baseball America.
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Denne historien er fra June 2021-utgaven av Baseball America.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Wood Has Towering Upside- Nationals rookie James Wood also stands 6-foot-7 and also has game-changing power.
Aaron Judge and Oneil Cruz are 6-foot7 sluggers who stand out for their power in this year’s MLB Best Tools voting. Wood spent half of this season with Triple-A Rochester before making his MLB debut on July 1. While he was in the International League, he captured managers’ attention. Wood unanimously won Best Power Prospect and also claimed Most Exciting Player in a survey of league skippers. Wood hit .353/.463/.595 with 10 home runs in 52 games for Rochester. His .242 isolated slugging was the best for a player 21 or younger at Triple-A this season.
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SUMMER STANDOUTS
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FLORIDA COMPLEX LEAGUE TOP 10
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WALCOTT BLASTS OFF
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K.C.MASTERPIECE
Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. wins games for the Royals with his bat, glove, speed and baseball IQ. He might be the most tooled-up player in the game.
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When negotiating the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the MLB Players Association prioritized the earning power of young major league players, especially young stars.
