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Time of India
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Aaron Judge goes beast mode with 469-foot home run in Kansas City that almost clears the entire stadium
Aaron Judge's jaw-dropping 469-foot homer leaves Kansas City crowd and internet speechless (AP Photos) Aaron Judge didn't just open the scoring against the Royals on Tuesday night—he made a statement. With a swing that had the sound of destiny, the New York Yankees' superstar crushed a jaw-dropping 469-foot home run in the very first inning, sending the baseball on a nearly stadium-clearing trajectory over Kauffman Stadium's left-field wall. Royals starter Noah Cameron served up the pitch, and Judge wasted no time turning it into a two-run shot that ignited the Yankees' momentum early in the game. Aaron Judge stuns Royals and fans with a 469-foot bomb in the very first inning The ball soared with a staggering 117.9 mph exit velocity and eventually landed on top of Kansas City's Hall of Fame structure beyond the scoreboard—territory rarely touched by visiting sluggers. While it wasn't the longest blast of his career, it certainly felt monumental. Fans at the stadium—and across the internet—were left in disbelief. "It wasn't the longest home run of Aaron Judge's career, but it sure looked like it." Though Judge has made a career of monster home runs, this particular shot stood out, ranking as the seventh-longest of his career. Only his 496-foot rocket back in 2017 against the Blue Jays has gone farther, a distance tied for fifth-longest in the Statcast Era. Judge's latest feat adds another milestone to an already dominant season. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Entering the game, he led the majors with a .396 batting average and an OPS of 1.264. This 24th homer of the season puts him just behind Cal Raleigh of the Mariners, while also marking his 12th career homer of at least 465 feet. In terms of sheer spectacle, Judge's Tuesday night homer now stands as the third-longest in MLB this season—trailing only Mike Trout's 484-foot missile and Logan O'Hoppe's 470-foot shot. Adding to his legend, Judge has now reached base safely in 61 of 65 games this year, including every road game, proving once again that consistency and power can go hand-in-hand. The Yankees entered the series opener with a 39-25 record and looked every bit the contender with Judge leading the charge. While the game had just begun, it was clear: Aaron Judge came to Kansas City not just to play—but to remind the world who baseball's biggest slugger still is. Also Read: Meet the passionate singer from New York, aiming to hit all 30 MLB stadiums with her national anthem performances
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aaron Judge blasts home run 469 feet, nearly out of Kauffman Stadium in matchup vs. Royals
It wasn't the longest home run of Aaron Judge's career, but it sure looked like it. The New York Yankees' star absolutely obliterated a ball that nearly made it out of Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday in Kansas City. Judge, in the first inning of the Yankees' matchup with the Royals, smashed a home run that traveled 469 feet and almost cleared the Hall of Fame wall out in left field. Advertisement Judge, with his team suddenly up 2-0, trotted around the bases like it was nothing. While he has hit plenty like it in his career, Tuesday's shot was a rare one for the stadium. The home run was the seventh-longest of Judge's career and his 12th that has traveled at least 465 feet, the league announced. The longest home run of Judge's career came back in 2017, when he hit a ball that went 496 feet against the Toronto Blue Jays. That's tied for the fifth-longest in the Statcast Era, which dates to 2015. Judge entered Tuesday's game with a .396 batting average and a 1.264 OPS, both of which lead the league. The home run was his 24th of the season, which trails only Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh. Judge also has a league-high 96 hits. Advertisement The Yankees took a 39-25 record into Tuesday's game, which kicked off a three-game series with the Royals. This post will be updated with more information.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Aaron Judge blasts home run 469 feet nearly out of Kauffman Stadium in matchup with Royals
It wasn't the longest home run of Aaron Judge's career, but it sure looked like it. The New York Yankees star absolutely obliterated a ball that nearly made it completely out of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Tuesday night. Judge, in the first inning of their matchup with the Royals, smashed a home run that traveled 469 feet and almost cleared the team's Hall of Fame wall out in left field. Advertisement Judge, with the team suddenly up 2-0, trotted around the bases like it was nothing. While he's hit plenty like it in his career, Tuesday's shot was a rare one for the stadium. The home run was the seventh-longest of Judge's career, and his 12th that has traveled at least 465 feet, the league announced. Judge's longest home run of his career came back in 2017, when he hit a shot that went 496 feet against the Toronto Blue Jays. That's tied for the fifth-longest in the Statcast Era, which dates back to 2015. Judge entered Tuesday's game in Missouri with a .396 batting average and a 1.264 OPS, both of which lead the league. The home run his 24th of the season, which trails only Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh. He also has a league-high 96 hits. Advertisement The Yankees took a 39-25 record into Tuesday's game, which kicked off a three-game series with the Royals. This post will be updated with more information shortly.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the buzz over Jac Caglianone? He once hit a ball 120.9 mph, showing the type of power the Royals desperately need
First things first: it's pronounced cag-lee-OHN. Not cag-lee-ah-NOHN. That's important to know because there's a strong chance Jac Caglianone is about to become a pretty big deal. The Royals' top prospect is set to make his Major League debut on Tuesday, just 324 days after Kansas City selected the University of Florida product with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. Raised in Tampa, Caglianone attended H.B. Plant High School, the same program that produced Kyle Tucker and Pete Alonso. An elbow injury steered Caglianone to Florida, where he blossomed into one of the most dynamic college players of the century. During his draft year in Gainesville, 'Cags' slashed a ridiculous .419/.544/.875 with 35 long balls. Advertisement In the time since, Caglianone has rocketed up the minor league ladder while rocketing baseballs with elite exit velocities. After impressing in big league spring training, the 6-foot-5 left-hander posted a .322/.389/.593 line with 15 homers across 50 games split between Double-A and Triple-A. That all came as Caglianone, who played first and pitched in college, was learning the outfield for the first time. Here's everything you need to know about the young slugger. Jac Caglianone isn't shy about going after pitches out of the zone but he has shown much improvement in the minor leagues. (Photo by Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images via Getty Images) (Diamond Images via Getty Images) Why is he a big deal? Put simply: he hits the baseball really, really, really hard. Earlier this minor league season, Caglianone laced an opposite field single at 120.9 miles per hour. That top-of-the-scales juice puts him in rarified air. Only six players in the Statcast Era (since 2017) have hit a ball that firmly: Giancarlo Stanton, Oneil Cruz, Gary Sánchez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ronald Acuña Jr. and Aaron Judge. Advertisement That's the offensive ceiling we're talking about here, which is remarkable considering that Caglianone was a full-time two-way player in college. So why isn't he the top prospect in baseball? Heading into spring training, public prospect lists, on average, had Caglianone slotted around No. 40. Granted, that was before Cags impressed in spring training and before he obliterated minor league pitching for the better part of two months. But still, this is a player with multiple warts. Coming out of college, Caglianone was considered to be a high-risk prospect, in large part because he chased so much. His out-of-zone swing rates at Florida were just below the 40 percent mark, a red-flag figure that had many teams concerned about how Caglianone would adjust to better pitching in pro ball. Advertisement But pro reps and a slight mechanical adjustment have allowed Cags to push that chase rate down to a still-high, but not panic-inducing mark of 34 percent. That would be around the 87th percentile of qualified MLB hitters this season, near some superstars (Bryce Harper, Corbin Carroll) and some chase-happy scufflers (Keibert Ruiz, Trevor Story). Another name in that range, young Rays starlet Junior Caminero, feels like an interesting comp for what Caglianone's offensive profile could look like this season Defense is the other major reason that Caglianone has not been considered a top-shelf prospect. When he wasn't pitching at Florida, Cags was DHing or playing first base. Because the Royals have something of a DH/1B log jam (Vinnie Pasquantino/Salvador Perez), Caglianone saw the majority of his time in the outfield this season and should be out in the grass a lot in the bigs. He's still a work in progress in both spots, but the bat has such potential and the Royals' offense has been so dreary that the club had no choice but to promote Cags right now. He's fast and athletic enough that Caglianone shouldn't be a total butcher in an outfield corner, but don't expect any Gold Gloves from him either. Hey, wait. Wasn't this guy a two-way player? He was! But not anymore, sadly. Advertisement Caglianone's two-way exploits at Florida helped him cross over into the larger baseball consciousness in a way that few college players do. For instance: In 2023, during his sophomore season, people started calling him 'Jac-tani' in a not-so-subtle reference to the Japanese superstar. Not many living beings can throw a baseball 99 miles per hour with their left hand; only 24 big leaguers have done that since the start of 2024. Even fewer can hit a baseball 119 miles per hour; only four souls — Cruz, Stanton, Guerrero Jr and Shohei Ohtani — have done so over that same span. Caglianone was, preposterously, doing both. As a college student. And yet, as the Gator superstar continued to drop jaws on both sides of the ball during his junior year, talent evaluators were beginning to realize that Caglianone's pro future was almost certainly going to be in the batter's box. The eye-popping velocity led to an impressive dossier of pitching highlights, yes, but the rest of his on-mound profile — secondary stuff, repeatability, command, control, fastball shape — left much to be desired. Advertisement So even though the Royals announced Caglianone as a two-way player when they selected him last July, it was an open secret in the industry that Kansas City would develop him exclusively as a hitter. So far, that's paid off big time. Jac Caglianone brought the heat on the mound at Florida but his arsenal wasn't diverse enough to seriously consider him a two-way player in MLB. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Why'd the Royals promote him now? Because they can't hit. Coming off an invigorating postseason campaign in 2024, this year's Royals have stagnated somewhat. It's been more treading water than massive cannonballs off the high dive as Kansas City's offense ranks near the bottom in most offensive categories. The Royals are last in home runs, last in walk rate, third to last in runs scored and fifth to last in OPS. Advertisement Only two hitters — reigning MVP runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. and third baseman Maikel Garcia — have an OPS+ above league average. Pasquantino has been much better recently after a rough start, but all the secondary pieces like Michael Massey, Jonathan India and Drew Waters have underwhelmed. Most concerning has been the steep fall-off from franchise icon Salvador Perez, who has gone from an All-Star a year ago to a bottom-20 qualified hitter in baseball. The Royals' stellar pitching and defense has kept this team in the mix. Heading into play on June 3, they are 31-29, one game out of a wild-card spot. But this lineup needs a jolt. Caglianone should help.
