Yesterday we looked at the five longest homers hit by the Yankees this season, and today I figured I’d flip the script and have a little fun by looking at the five shortest homers. The right field porch in Yankee Stadium is known to give up a cheap homerun or two during the summer, and in fact this Chris Iannetta shot off Phil Hughes was the second shortest outside-the-park homer in all of baseball this season. It checked in at only 324 feet and would have gone foul in most parks. This B.J. Upton dinger off Ervin Santana was MLB’s shortest outside-the-park homer, if you’re curious.
So once again, with another big assist from Hit Tracker, here are the five shortest homers hit by the Yankees this season. All five were hit in Yankee Stadium, so if you’re looking for the shortest non-Bronx homer this year, it’s this Raul Ibanez tater off Chris Young across town in CitiField. That one checked in at just 344 feet.
July 16th, August 17th & September 16th: The Russell Martin Three-Way Tie
During his two years in pinstripes, 21 of Martin’s 39 homers have come at Yankee Stadium. I thought it would be more, but that’s a pretty even split. Anyway, I guess Russ likes something about the middle of the month late in the season given the timing of these homers. The first, this shot against Henderson Alvarez, was a leadoff dinger to open the game’s scoring. The second, this homer against Franklin Morales, was part of a set of back-to-back dingers with Curtis Granderson. The third, this shot against Matt Moore, gave the Yankee some much-needed breathing room in an important game. All three homers traveled the same distance and are tied for the team’s fourth, fifth, and sixth shortest homer of 2012. Distance(s): 340 feet
May 12th: Jayson Nix vs. Hector Noesi (video)
I thought Nix was originally recalled when Eduardo Nunez was demoted to Triple-A in mid-May, but it turns out he actually came up about a week earlier when Eric Chavez was placed on the 7-day concussion DL. Nunez was sent down when Chavez was activated and Nix stuck around. His first homer in pinstripes came against a former Yankee, off a flat 92 mph fastball right over the outer third in a 1-1 count. Noesi was terrible this year (5.82 ERA and 5.53 FIP) so a bad pitch from him wasn’t unexpected, but Nix still needed some help from the short porch to get it over the wall. Of his four homers this season, three were right field shots in the Bronx. The fourth cleared the Green Monster. Distance: 339 feet
June 25th: Nick Swisher vs. Josh Tomlin (video)
We have a twist! Although this homer came at Yankee Stadium, it was not hit out to right. Instead, Swisher reached out and poked Tomlin’s two-strike changeup on the outer half out to left field and managed to keep the ball just inside the foul pole for a solo shot. Robinson Cano had just hammered a solo shot to right off Tomlin one batter prior, so he and Swisher went foul pole-to-foul pole with their set of back-to-back dingers off the Indians’ right-hander. Distance: 339 feet
August 3rd: Eric Chavez vs. Kevin Millwood (video)
You’d be hard-pressed to find a cheaper Yankee Stadium homer than this one. Chavez gets credit for some serious hang-time — it was a moonshot in the sense that the ball went really, really high — but the ball landed on the top of the wall in right field and bounced over for the two-run shot. Millwood hung a slider in an 0-1 count and Chavez did what he was supposed to do, but the ballpark definitely helped him out with this long ball. It not only was the shortest homer of the Yankees’ season, it was the eighth-shortest outside-the-park homer in MLB in 2012. Distance: 334 feet
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