Touch ‘em All Time: That ball had a family!

Welcome back, friends of the long ball, to another installment of Touch ‘em All Time, our weekly look at the dongers of the week. Last week had many entries, but with a definitive 61% of the total vote, Yan Gomes has won his first Touch ‘em All Time honors for his destructive home run off Justin Musgrove. Behold its glory.

Just nine entries this week. Who will take home the title of best home run? Here are the candidates:

Carlos Santana (5/24/17 v. Lisalverto Bonilla, WPA .191)

Everyone knows that Carlos Santana doesn’t hit 30 home runz...actually, does that meme even hold any merit anymore? The man hit 34 last season. He only has six so far this year, and two of them came last week. The first was a two run shot in the third inning against the Reds to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, that lead would not hold up.

Jose Ramirez (5/26/17 v. Ian Kennedy, WPA .110)

I’m not sure if the Angry Hamster heard the whispers of his demise, but he roared back last week in a big way after his lengthy slump. Over his most recent 21 plate appearances, Jose Ramirez has slashed .400/.429/.700, which includes this golf shot off of Ian Kennedy last Friday. Keep it going, Jose. Make them eat their words.

Francisco Lindor (5/27/17 v. Jason Vargas, WPA .102)

Ho hum. Another week, another Lindor home run. Seriously, this isn’t news anymore. Francisco Lindor is stronger than you. Resistance to the Era of Lindor is futile, and all who fight will perish in the tempest.

Jason Kipnis (5/28/17 v. Travis Wood, WPA .001)

I’m not sure what I like about this home run most. The fact that it came off of Travis Wood (who was with the Chicago Cubs) last season and it gave me momentary glee at thinking “hmm, what if this had come off of a different Cubs reliever in a different game...”, or the fact that it was worth literally 1/10 of 1% on the WPA scale, meaning it had virtually zero impact on the game. Oh well, Kipnis + home run = happy Tyler.

Austin Jackson (5/29/17 v. Daniel Mengden, WPA .113)

Hey wait a minute, Austin Jackson isn’t supposed to hit home runs. This came as a bit of a surprise, and poor Daniel Mengden was probably hoping that this would be the only home run he would give up on the day. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for Cleveland, that was not the case. And while this home run did just barely clear the wall in right field, it was a laser that went opposite field and gave Cleveland an early lead.

Carlos Santana (5/29/17 v. Daniel Mengden, WPA .100)

LINK TO DINGER

Twitter could not contain Santana’s second dong of the week. Lando put an absolute charge into this ball and sent it deep into the right field seats. Surprisingly enough, this was not the farthest home run hit in this inning. No, that honor goes to...

Edwin Encarnacion (5/29/17 v. Daniel Mengden, WPA .074)

You remember when Jim Thome hit that really, really, REALLY far home run? Well, Edwin did his best to impersonate Thome on Memorial Day by crushing an absolute bomb to Heritage Park out in center field. Statcast estimates Edwin’s home run went 451 feet (keep in mind that Thome’s home run, on the other hand, went an estimated 511 feet).

Jason Kipnis (5/30/17 v. Sonny Gray, WPA .104)

While you all were distracted by the Edwin’s and the Lindor’s of the world, Jason Kipnis quietly put up an incredible week of baseball with a slash line of .333/.391/.571; that doesn’t even include his home run from yesterday, which extended the Tribe’s lead as it sailed into the seats just in front of the bullpen.

Bradley Zimmer (5/30/17 v. Frankie Montas, WPA .022)

Invader Zim had a great game yesterday, driving in four with a double and a monster dinger to right field. Not only is Zimmer tall and athletic and speedy, but he’s flashing some nice power at the big league level as well. Keep it up, Bradley!

Verdict

This week is a tough one. But I have to give it to Edwin’s home run off of Mengden on Memorial Day. When you hit a baseball and it leaves the ballpark, it’s very hard to compete with that. Congratulations, Edwin!