Watch the 10 most extreme whiffs on record 

Have you ever watched a hitter swing and miss and think, *"Wow, he wasn't close to that one."*

Well, thanks to Statcast's new miss distance data, we have a way to quantify that.

The new leaderboard just launched on Baseball Savant has a number of metrics that help us characterize just how much the bat misses the ball on a swing and miss. The miss distance from the bat is defined as the distance from the fat half -- the good part -- of the bat.

You can read all about what these new stats mean here. Right now, though, let's take a look at the very extreme end of the spectrum. Here's a look at the most extreme missed swings on record, through play on Sunday.

1. Clayton Kershaw vs. Ronny Mauricio: 57.5 inches
Dodgers vs. Mets (June 3, 2025)

The first thing you'll notice here is that a lot of these will match the eye test. Even in the twilight of his legendary career, Kershaw still managed to baffle hitters. He sure fooled the free-swinging Mauricio, who was nowhere near this patented 12-6 curveball. Dodgers play-by-play man Joe Davis seemed stunned at the chase, and for good reason: Mauricio missed the curveball by 57.5 inches, making it the largest miss distance on record (again, this data goes back to the 2023 All-Star break).

2. Tyler Kinley vs. Jeimer Candelario: 48.9 inches
Braves at Angels (April 7, 2026)

The second-most extreme whiff on record occurred just a few months ago. Like Kershaw before him, Kinley bounced a curveball. Candelario -- perhaps trying to hunt for a pitch to drive in a hitter's count with a man in scoring position -- let loose. He missed the pitch by over four feet.

3. Chris Sale vs. Kazuma Okamoto: 47.8 inches
Braves vs. Blue Jays (June 4, 2026)

Sale is the only pitcher to appear on this list twice, and that's rather fitting, considering the funky lefty has made a career of making hitters look silly. Here, his wipeout slider -- shot out of his signature low arm slot -- gets the best of Okamoto, who doesn't have a chance against the breaker in the dirt.

4. Kodai Senga vs. CJ Abrams: 44 inches
Mets vs. Nationals (June 12, 2025)

At his best, Senga is a true master at his craft, weaponizing an array of different pitches to keep hitters off balance. In this particular start, he fooled Abrams with the very first pitch of the game, unleashing a loopy curveball that he threw just 2% of the time in 2025. Yeah, hitting is hard. Abrams was well in front of the slow hook, missing the pitch by 44 inches.

5. José Soriano vs. José Caballero: 42.9 inches
Angels vs. Rays (April 10, 2024)

Angels play-by-play voice Wayne Randazzo opined that Caballero missed Soriano's knuckle curve by about three feet. As it turns out, Randazzo was actually selling the moment short. Caballero missed the pitch by nearly 43 inches, making it the fifth-most extreme swing and miss on record. That's what Soriano's wicked offering will do to hitters: He's generated a whiff rate of at least 40% on his knuckle curve in each of his four MLB seasons.

6. Andrew Chafin vs. Brayan Rocchio: 42.1 inches
Nationals vs. Guardians (May 7, 2025)

Not all extreme missed swings are created equal. As you've seen by now, a lot of these extreme miss distances come on pitches in the dirt -- logically, that makes sense, given a hitter is unlikely to come close to hitting a pitch that bounces prior to the plate. As much as that spells trouble for the hitter, it puts the catcher in a bind, too. Here, Keibert Ruiz can't stop Chafin's slider, even after Rocchio swings over it, causing a run to score on the wild pitch.

7. David Bednar vs. Eugenio Suárez: 42 inches
Pirates vs. D-backs (July 26, 2025)

Suárez, one of the game's premier power hitters, couldn't quite tie this two-run game with one swing -- though he sure did try. Bednar won the battle by surprising Suárez with a first-pitch curveball, which he missed by three-and-a-half feet. The opposition did a lot of whiffing against Bednar's curve in 2025; it generated a 43.1% whiff rate on the season.

8. Nick Martinez vs. Elehuris Montero: 40.9 inches
Padres at Rockies (July 31, 2023)

A nine-year MLB veteran, Martinez has made a living off his devilish changeup. That was certainly true during the 2023 season, when he threw the pitch 29% of the time -- more often than any other offering in his arsenal -- and it induced a 46.5% whiff rate, one of the highest against any qualified pitch in baseball. That spelt bad news for Montero.

9-T. Jimmy Herget vs. Darin Ruf: 40.4 inches
Rockies at Giants (May 2, 2025)

Herget might as well throw Wiffle balls on the mound with the way his pitches move. He flings the ball to the plate via one of the lowest arm angles in baseball, generating a ton of side-to-side movement. Sure enough, this particular sweeper dances away from Ruf, who never really had a chance to hit this pitch.

9-T. Chris Sale vs. Bryce Harper: 40.4 inches
Braves vs. Phillies (April 8, 2025)

Sale rounds out the list with his second appearance, this time in a star-studded matchup: The nine-time All-Star got the best of eight-time All-Star Bryce Harper. Whereas his slider previously carved up the right-handed-hitting Okamoto, this time it eludes Harper by over 40 inches. Thanks to outlier horizontal movement and unique release qualities, Sale's slider was one of the most valuable pitches in all of baseball in 2025. It's easy to see why.