long and gone
Matt Wallner jolted Philadelphia ace Aaron Nola for a 441-foot home run on Wednesday, the first run in a game Minnesota would go on to win 5-4. Former Southern Miss star Wallner’s blast into right-center at Target Field was his fourth with the Twins and his longest in MLB this season. But 441 ranks just seventh on the list of long bombs by Mississippians in the majors in 2024. Ex-Mississippi State standout Brent Rooker owns the longest, a 452-foot shot for Oakland on July 14, according to data on onlyhomers.com. Rooker has the top two and six of the 10 longest homers by players from the state. Austin Riley, the DeSoto Central High alum now with Atlanta, is third on the list with a 449-footer, and he also hit one 446. Six different Mississippians have hit homers of 430 feet or more this season, with MSU alums Nathaniel Lowe, Hunter Renfroe and Jordan Westburg also in that club. The longest homer in the majors this season was a 478-footer struck by San Francisco’s Jorge Soler on Sunday at Colorado. It’s worth noting that Wallner hit a reported 481-foot blast for Triple-A St. Paul at Louisville in mid-June. P.S. Left-hander Ryan Och, a 2021 draftee out of USM, pitched two scoreless innings for San Antonio (San Diego affiliate) on Wednesday, notched his first Double-A victory and cut his ERA to 0.79 in six appearances. … Ex-USM star Tyler Stuart, a 6-foot-9 righty, worked six innings (one run) for his third win for Double-A Binghamton (New York Mets). He is 3-7 despite a 3.96 ERA. … MSU alum and ex-big leaguer Dakota Hudson got rocked in his first start for Triple-A Albuquerque: nine hits, two walks, six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. He was 2-12, 5.84, for Colorado this season.