St. Louis Cardinals: Counting down the top five longest homers of 2019

On what should be Opening Day for the St. Louis Cardinals, let’s look back at the longest homers of 2019, just so we can all smile a little bit since we don’t have baseball.

Who doesn’t like to watch home runs? While the game of baseball may have taken that thought too far for some in 2019, there’s just something about watching a ball get demolished that makes you smile. It helps even more when that ball was hit by a player wearing a St. Louis Cardinals jersey.

In 2019, the Cardinals hit a lot of homers, and while they may not have all been moonshots, there were certainly some of them mixed in.

It may not be new baseball, but just to enjoy something on this would-be Opening Day, let’s count down the top five longest homers of the 2019 season.

5. Marcell Ozuna’s first bomb of the season

It may be fitting that we are starting this list with Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna has always been a Statcast darling who hits the ball super hard but hasn’t really seen the expected numbers pile up from those exit velocities. When he does hit the ball hard, it can go a very long way.

On April 4, Ozuna cracked his first homer of the season against the San Diego Padres at home. Because of usage rules and legal reasons, the best I can provide is this link to the homer, courtesy of Baseball Savant.

This go-ahead bomb left the bat at 112.3 mph and ended up landing an estimated 455 ft later in Big Mac Land. Don’t worry, this isn’t the only Big Mac Land trip we will be taking on this list. Danny Mac’s calls will never get old.

4. Harrison Bader loves fastballs

Harrison Bader really had a bad 2019 with the bat. He would be the first one to tell you he expects better. However, he did still hit 12 homers despite his .680 OPS.

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In the middle of September, Bader returned from a stint at the minor leagues to get his head and swing right. While he may have only been rejuvenated for a couple of weeks, he did have one heck of a game on September 15th.

This homer he hit in the seventh inning of a one-run game left the bat at 106.5 mph and landed 455ft later. This was a stellar hit on it’s own, but earlier in the game, Bader hit another homer one foot shorter. If Bader gets a fastball he’s ready for, he can hit it a mile.

3. Paul DeJong goes back-to-back

One of the best power-hitting shortstops in the league, Paul DeJong hit an unexpected 30 homers in 2019.

If you’ll remember the beginning of the season, the Cardinals had a very tough time winning at Miller Park, starting the year 2-5 against their division rivals. They did hit a lot of homers though, and in the first game of their second series in Milwaukee, Paul Goldschmidt went yard before Paul DeJong followed suit on this pitch.

This ball left the bat at 109.7 mph and traveled a whopping 462 ft. Sadly though, the Cardinals went on to give up six runs in the second inning, eventually losing the game. The Brewers couldn’t take away DeJong’s moonshot though.

2. Goldy shows off

Paul Goldschmidt may not have had the season he wanted to have, but he still had no problem showing off his power.

In this game against the Mets on April 20th, the Cardinals were already up 9-2 and were taking their last at-bats of the game in the bottom of the 8th inning. Up by seven or not, Goldschmidt didn’t take the at-bat off.

This ball was clobbered 464 ft to right-center field with an exit velocity of 109.1 mph. My favorite part of this homer was the call by Danny Mac. Sometimes, all you can do is just sit back and watch with awe. Enjoy this one.

1. An unlikely leader

If I were to ask you who you think hit the longest home run on the Cardinals in 2019, I’d bet you couldn’t get it with five guesses. Rangel Ravelo, the 27-year-old rookie with nine minor league seasons under his belt hit the longest ball of the year.

Not to take away from the hit too much, but it was at Coors Field. Either way, you need some serious muscle to hit a ball 487 ft. With just his second MLB homer ever, Ravelo hit a hanging slider up in the zone 111.5 mph out to deeeeeeeeeeep left-center field.

It may have been an unlikely hitter, but Ravelo got a good pitch and didn’t miss it. At the time, it was the second-longest homer by any player in the MLB. 

I hope this list helped entertain you during a kinda sad day, it’s always great to feel the energy and excitement of baseball again. The season will be back eventually and new season-long homers will be hit. For now, congrats to everyone on this list for doing what none of us can do: demolish a pitch from a major league pitcher.