Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez clobbered a 493-foot home run, one of two on the night, in New York’s 13-4 win over the Tigers. Maybe most impressively, he hit it off an 80 mph changeup.
“I think I still got him by two feet,” Aaron Judge joked, and he’s right—Judge still owns the longest homer hit in the majors this year, a 495-foot jack against the Orioles in June.
Now that Aaron Judge has slumped for more than a month—come back to earth, maybe—it’s Sanchez’s turn to receive the hype. In their young careers, with Judge owning one more plate appearance (620 to 619, about equal to full seasons), Sanchez has the lead in hits, runs, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases, and slugging percentage; Judge still has the edge in walks, on-base percentage, and OPS. Sanchez was always the more-hyped prospect of the two, so this isn’t out of left field, but Judge understandably got the attention when he was hitting moonshots at a Ruthian pace while Sanchez was hurt. Now that Sanchez is healthy, hitting like a superstar, and punishing baseballs by sending them to parts of the ballpark they don’t belong, it’s his turn.