Way back in 2018 I had a wild idea to start trying to track the distance of home runs hit by Cincinnati Reds prospects. Doing that has gotten a little bit easier each season as more broadcasters are mentioning the distances from the in-house Trackman or Hawkeye systems, two of the teams have at least some public facing data, and for the full-season teams you can now watch just about every game.
The Dayton Dragons hit 114 home runs in the 2024 season. That led the 12-team Midwest League, with Cedar Rapids coming in second place with 110. Only four teams in the league topped the 100 home run mark. Fort Wayne was at the bottom of the list with 75 home runs as a team.
With all of that out of the way, let’s take a look at the Top 10 list for the longest home runs hit by Dayton Dragons players in the 2024 season:
| Player | Date | Distance | Measure |
| Sal Stewart | 6/11 | 454 | Trackman |
| Cade Hunter | 4/27 | 448 | Trackman |
| John Michael Faile | 8/27 | 444 | Trackman |
| Connor Burns | 8/23 | 443 | Trackman |
| Ethan O’Donnell | 8/24 | 437 | Trackman |
| Ethan O’Donnell | 8/23 | 426 | Trackman |
| Cam Collier | 8/23 | 426 | Trackman |
| Cam Collier | 8/31 | 424 | Google Maps |
| Jay Allen II | 5/1 | 423 | Trackman |
| Hector Rodriguez | 7/23 | 422 | Google Maps |
Last week’s list for Daytona only had three players show up for the 10 spots. This week there are eight players showing up on the list as only two guys were able to double up and make the list twice. Connor Burns made this list after also being on the Tortugas list three times.
Much like the list for Daytona, Dayton’s list only has one home run that topped the 450-foot mark. The Tortugas only had four home runs – all hit by Ariel Almonte – top the 425-foot mark, but the Dragons had seven top that mark.
Let’s start things off by taking a look at the 454-foot home run from Sal Stewart:
Home runs that hit that canopy are long home runs. Stewart cleared it. And then some. It took one bounce before hitting the apartment buildings beyond the stadium. It’s not too often that a center fielder totally gives up on a fly ball that early, but when you know, you know. And he knew.
Here is the 448-foot home run by Cade Hunter:
You might not be able to see it (but maybe you can!), but the broadcaster is sure to let you know that this baseball was clobbered so much that it left the entire ballpark. This one was the 3rd homer of April for Hunter. Five of his seven home runs on the season went at least 400 feet.
Here is John Michael Faile’s 444-foot home run:
This game was all but over when John Michael Faile came to the plate for this home run. But he wasn’t ready for the game to be over just yet and he went the other was on a 98 MPH fastball and nearly hit it out of the stadium to right-center. It’s rare to see home runs of this distance to the opposite field.
Some Fun Home Run Facts
- Dayton had 31 home runs go at least 400 feet.
- Of the 105 home runs we have data for that went over the fence the average distance was 385 feet. That was six feet shorter than the average distance for Daytona, but the Tortugas had far fewer home runs.
- Sal Stewart’s 454-foot home run ranked 5th on the farm among the home runs I have verifiable data on.
- Cam Collier hit 20 home runs during the season. 11 of them went 400+ feet. He averaged 397 feet per home run.
- Cade Hunter had five homers top the 400-foot mark. Ethan O’Donnell, Hector Rodriguez, and John Michael Faile all had three.