The Phillies were knocking the cover off the ball on Monday night in Atlanta. Five Philadelphia batters hit home runs in the team’s 7–1 win over the Braves—but none of them hit a ball as far as Kyle Schwarber did.
In the sixth inning, Schwarber demolished a high fastball from Michael Tonkin, hitting it 483 feet into the bar area beyond the right field stands. It was the kind of homer that you have to see to believe, but it’s also the kind of homer that you need to hear.
Baseball fans wax poetic about the crack of the bat, but the sound of the ball leaving Schwarber’s bat was something else entirely. It sounded more like a golf ball being struck cleanly with an iron, or maybe even a gunshot. It was a sharp, loud snap that made it immediately obvious the ball wasn’t coming back.
WAIT, WHAT KYLE???#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/j9mga9TbKz
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 19, 2023
Schwarber’s homer was one of the longest of the season, trailing only a 485-foot blast by Giancarlo Stanton and a 493-footer by Shohei Ohtani. It was also the second-longest home run in the history of the Braves’ home stadium, behind only a 495-foot shot by Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2020.
The homer was Schwarber’s 45th of the season, putting him in a tie with Pete Alonso for second most in the majors (Atlanta’s Matt Olson leads MLB with 52).
