Home runs are down across all of baseball, but I don’t think we’re going to hear MLB home run leader Anthony Rizzo complain about that anytime soon. He seems to be enjoying the short porch to right field at Yankee Stadium just fine.
Rizzo hit three home runs in Tuesday’s 12-8 win over the Baltimore Orioles. And while a three-homer game is always noteworthy, Rizzo found a way to make some history in the process.
No player in the Statcast era has pulled off a three-homer game with a shorter average home run distance than what Rizzo had on Tuesday (350 feet). His first home run of the game was measured at 345 feet, and it would only have been a home run at … Yankee Stadium.
This Anthony Rizzo 345-foot shot would’ve been a home run in just one MLB park: Yankee Stadium.
(via @Yankees)pic.twitter.com/JyrVC2uGqo
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) April 27, 2022
Conveniently for Rizzo, he *was* playing at Yankee Stadium.
His third home run of the game was especially hilarious as it barely creeped in beside the foul pole at 327 feet.
The Orioles broadcast reaction to Anthony Rizzo's third home run has me dyingpic.twitter.com/nIrmpxJ0if
— Dillard Barnhart (@BarnHasSpoken2) April 27, 2022
The Orioles broadcast practically had a meltdown over it. But hey, history is history — he’ll take it.
Anthony Rizzo has hit 3 HR tonight with an avg dist of 350 feet
That's the shortest avg HR distance in a 3+ HR game tracked by Statcast (since 2015)
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) April 27, 2022
MLB fans had plenty of thoughts about Yankee Stadium — one of our worst-ranked ballparks — following the “historic” night for Rizzo .