Elite velocity? Impossible location? No problem for Marlins rookie Jazz Chisholm Jr., who is starting to make a habit of turning pitchers' pitches into jaw-dropping homers.
The latest came Tuesday night in a huge spot for Miami, which was locked in a tie at Philadelphia when Chisholm stepped to the plate against Phillies flamethrowing left-hander José Alvarado in the eighth inning. With a runner on second and nobody out, Alvarado fed the left-handed-batting Chisholm a 100.5 mph sinker above the zone. Somehow, Chisholm caught up to it -- and turned on it -- lifting a fly ball into the right-center-field seats at Citizens Bank Park for a go-ahead two-run homer.
That long ball would have been impressive enough if it were a one-time thing. But for Chisholm, it's not.
Chisholm not only has the only two homers against 100-plus mph fastballs across MLB in 2021, but he hit them against two extremely tough pitchers. The first was Jacob deGrom, an annual Cy Young Award candidate who has allowed just one other homer across 40 innings this season. And Alvarado, while sometimes erratic, has some of the nastiest stuff in the game. He had not allowed a homer this season in 12 2/3 innings coming into Tuesday.
Here’s where it gets even more ridiculous. Going back to the start of the pitch-tracking era (2008), there had been 34 home runs against pitches 100 mph or faster. And those had been hit by 34 different batters.
In other words, Chisholm is the first player on record with multiple career homers off triple-digit gas -- and he’s done it in his first 23 games of this season.
To increase the degree of difficulty even further, Tuesday’s dinger was only the third homer on record hit by a left-handed batter off a left-handed pitcher on a 100-plus mph pitch.
Then there was the fact that both Chisholm’s homer off deGrom (3.61 feet high) and the one off Alvarado (3.76 feet high) were on pitches above the strike zone. Of all the 100-plus mph pitches on record to be taken deep, those are the two highest.
So let this be a warning to Major League pitchers: Even if you throw 100 mph, and even if you elevate above the zone, Jazz Chisholm can still make you pay.