If you’ve been following White Sox catcher Yermín Mercedes’ remarkable first week of the 2020 season, you might be wondering what else he has in store for us.
How about hitting one into outer space?
One batter after Yoan Moncada started the scoring against the Royals on Thursday with a two-run home run, Mercedes connected on a 485-foot big fly way over the left-field fence that awed the crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field.
The homer was the longest regular-season shot for the White Sox in the Statcast era (since 2015), surpassing Avisaíl Garcia’s 481-foot long ball in 2018. Luis Robert hit one 487 feet last season in Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series against the A’s.
The moonshot continues a torrid start for Mercedes, who was the first AL Player of the Week of the 2021 season after becoming the first player in the modern era to start a season with hits in his first eight at-bats.