Padres: Joshua Mears belts a rocket-like 117 MPH home run

Normally, when we’re talking about a home run that’s pushing 120 MPH that means we’re talking about either Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton.

But not this time.

San Diego Padres prospect Joshua Mears turned heads this week in Cactus League action when he belted an absolute missile of a blast that Statcast clocked at 117.3 MPH against the Colorado Rockies.

Oddly enough, one day prior to this shot, we talked about how Baseball America pegged Mears as one of two Padres prospect who could be poised to break out this season – along with right-hander Brayan Medina.

Padres have high hopes for Joshua Mears

But for our purposes here, let’s focus on that Mears home run. Here are the five hardest-hit home runs of the Statcast era:

1. Giancarlo Stanton – 121.7 MPH
2. Giancarlo Stanton – 121.3 MPH
3. Aaron Judge – 121.1 MPH
4. Aaron Judge – 119.4 MPH
5. Giancarlo Stanton – 119.3 MPH

So, like I said. When we’re talking about balls that were hit unbelievably hard, the culprit is, more often than not, one of the New York Yankees’ gigantic sluggers. But if you keep going down the list, Mears’ blast would have clocked in as the fourth hardest-hit home run by a player other than Stanton or Judge.

"“He’s just a freak athlete,” said Padres manager Jayce Tingler told MLB.com. “Been waiting to see it. … We’ve seen it in BP, we’ve seen it in some of the intrasquad games. But his power is ridiculous — how quickly the ball got out of the stadium. It was really cool to see him connect for one and good to see him smile.”"

This was some big-time power for the Padres #10 prospect. The 2019 second-round pick played Rookie-level ball two years ago and then saw the 2020 MiLB campaign wiped out by COVID-19. In other words, he’s not about to be a factor for the big league club this summer.

But, still, it’s easy to see why some are so high on his skills. Hopefully, someday we’ll see him bashing balls off the Western Metal Supply Co. building down the left field line. For now, we’ll settle for watching this home run on repeat.