Royals, fans think Statcast whiffed on 452-foot estimate of Salvador Perez home run

For every home run hit in Major League Baseball, Statcast provides an estimate of how far the ball traveled.

The key word in that sentence is “estimate,” because no one believed that a home run hit Monday night by Royals catcher Salvador Perez traveled only 452 feet. It was much farther than that.

Here’s the monster home run against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

As you heard, Bally Sports Kansas City’s Ryan Lefebvre and Rex Hudler had never seen a ball hit that far at Guaranteed Rate Field. Ditto for White Sox radio announcers Len Kasper and Darrin Jackson.

Here is a transcript of their call of the home run in the Royals’ 2-1 win.

Kasper: Perez got a lot of it. This is gone. Absolutely blasted by Salvador Perez. A home run, his 14th of the year into deep center field.

Jackson: Well, it’s as deep as I’ve ever seen a ball hit in this ballpark, straight away center over all the shrubbery. Right center side of center field. It ended up on the stairs going up to the fan deck. Yeah, that’s not where baseballs are supposed to land.”

Kasper: That was absolutely crushed.

Royals manager Mike Matheny told reporters it was the longest home run he’d seen at Guaranteed Rate.

“I’ve never seen a ball go up there,” Matheny said. “Getting it into that ivy backdrop is a long way. And to go over that, I’ve never seen it. This guy just continues to amaze us.”

Even Perez told The Star’s Lynn Worthy: “It’s got to be more than that, come on guys.”

Fans watching at home scoffed at the estimate from Statcast.

If you think fans, announcers and the Royals are just exaggerating how far Perez hit that ball, check out this video of the longest home runs at Guaranteed Rate Field. At No. 10 is a 453-foot homer by Miguel Cabrera and there is simply no way his home run traveled a foot farther than Perez’s bomb on Monday night.