Seattle Mariners rookie outfielder Lazaro Montes smoked a 474-foot homer on Tuesday, which is the longest recorded homer at T-Mobile Park in the Statcast era. Montes stepped up to the plate with two runners on in the bottom of the fourth inning, and worked a 2-1 count against Texas Rangers veteran right-hander Cal Quantrill. Quantrill left a 94.7 mph fastball over the heart of the plate for the fourth pitch of the at-bat, and Montes made no mistake.
The three-run homer left Montes' bat at 116.1 mph, which is more than 10 mph faster than his next hardest-hit ball at 106 mph. The ball landed well above the first section in center field, bouncing around the tunnel leading into the center field seats. "We have never seen one way back there," the Mariners' broadcast exclaimed on the call.
The Statcast era is the current, modern period in MLB when all 30 MLB stadiums implemented high-quality tracking equipment for both pitchers and hitters. This equipment tracks factors like exit velocity, launch angle and projected distance, giving reliable information on the distance of a batted ball. Montes is the Mariners' No. 5 prospect, and Tuesday marks just his sixth game in the majors following a late-season call-up to kick off September.
The 21-year-old tore up the minors this season, splitting 123 games between Double-A and Triple-A over the course of the season. He had a .923 OPS across both levels, hitting 38 homers and driving in 96 runs over the course of the year in MiLB. He made his MLB debut Sept. 1 against the Boston Red Sox and turned in a 2-for-4 performance with a homer, two RBIs and a walk and recorded a hit the following day against the Athletics, though he didn't reach base in any of his three games afterwards.
After his home run in the fourth inning Tuesday, Montes' OPS rose to .919 on the year. Montes is still adjusting to MLB, having just made his debut, but the Mariners are hoping he can continue to develop as they push for an unlikely spot in the postseason. They currently sit six games out of the final Wild Card spot with a few weeks left in the MLB season, and have two more games against the division rival Rangers on Wednesday and Thursday.
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