2012 D-backs Longest Homers, In Animated GIF Format

The links go to video of the home-run in question, if you want to see the full thing.

10. 447 ft. Miguel Montero, 6/14 off Yoshinori Tateyama (TEX)

Montero was (in)famous this year for the vigorous intensity of swings which, more often than not, missed the target and looked pretty bad. But when they connected... hoo-boy. On the plus side, Tateyama should be able to get the ball back this off-season, when he returns to Japan...

9. 450 ft. Chris Young, 4/15 off Drew Pomeranz (COL)

Remember that glorious two weeks at the start of the season when Chris Young was really, really good? Heck, remember when Chris Young was still a Diamondback? This one might deserve an asterisk beside it, since it was hit at Coors Field. The Rockies must have got their humidors confused...

8. 451 ft. Justin Upton, 9/1 off Josh Beckett (LAD)

It's a small, green shoot of optimism that September saw Upton provide two of the ten longest bombs hit by any Diamondback this season. Hopefully, this augurs well for a full season of this sort of thing in 2013 - and in an Arizona uniform, to boot. Man, that swing is so pretty, it should be hanging in the Louvre.

5. 452 ft. Paul Goldschmidt, 5/27 off Randy Wolf (MIL)

This shows Goldzilla's "fringy bat speed", as complained about by a certain pundit. Oh. hang on - it's in super slo-mo. Please carry on. In case you're wondering, the longest of his homers off Tim Lincecum this year was 419 ft, equal 44th in this season's rankings. It was, however, the 3rd longest Timmeh allowed in 2012.

5. 452 ft. Cody Ransom, 5/7 off J.C. Romero (STL)

Rather than showing the swing, for this one I thought we'd just go with where the ball landed. I've eaten at Friday's Front Row, and home plate is a very, very long way off. I particularly like the kid running away from the ball as it approaches, but it doesn't stay long, ricocheting down to the lower deck.

5. 452 ft. Justin Upton, 9/8 off Miles Mikolas (SD)

This was the longest home-run hit by the Diamondbacks outside of Chase, and coming at Petco, you know there was no help from the conditions. Upton made up for that with sheer power: the speed of this one off the bat was 116.2 mph, three mph more than any other Arizona homer in 2012.

4. 453 ft. Josh Bell, 5/22 off Aaron Harang (LAD)

It seems like every year, the team has a brief visit by someone who can deliver tape-measure shots - but that's about all they can do. Last year, it was Wily Mo Pena (now having a decent season for the Fukuoka Hawks in Japan); this year, it was Bell. This was his only home-run of 2012.

2. 457 ft. Jason Kubel, 6/8 off Tommy Milone (OAK)

I kinda thought Kubel was more a pull hitter, with a lot of power down the right-field line. But if you look at his HR chart - especially if you focus on the 400+ foot bombs - there's a decent spread of power. This one, his longest of the year, was just to the right of center field: also, it came against a leftie.

2. 457 ft. Justin Upton, 6/20 off Jason Vargas (SEA)

I know it's slow-motion, but the glacial speed with which Upton leaves the batter's box, and the casual disdain in the discarding of the bat could come across as arrogant. But watch the video and see where the ball lands. That's not an area of the park often visited: if ever a home-run deserved to be watched, this did.

1. 458 ft. Miguel Montero, 6/9 off Jarrod Parker (OAK)

It's salutary to compare this and #10. The latter seems a much more violent hack, in comparison to what we see here, which is smooth and controlled - the D-backs should insist Miggy has it as his screensaver this winter. And, of course, there's something fitting about who this one came off.

This post is sponsored by Jack in the Box.