Mitch Garver Can't Believe Record-Long Homer for Texas Rangers

Mitch Garver couldn’t believe it at first. After hitting the Texas Rangers’ longest home run of the season – and the longest of his career – another number

Mitch Garver couldn’t believe it at first. After hitting the Texas Rangers’ longest home run of the season – and the longest of his career – another number stood out for Garver.

“Yeah, it felt good,” Garver said of his 457-foot blast in Thursday’s 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. “I did a little peak at the scoreboard to see what it was and had to double-take. I saw 111. That was a double-take situation.”

More accurately, it was 111.4 mph. That was the exit velocity of Garver’s solo shot to left-center that tied the game 3-3. That was the second-fastest EV on Thursday, trailing only 114.1 mph from Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees. Stanton had the second-longest homer of the day at 430 feet.

Adolis García hit the previous longest homer for Texas at 448 feet on July 26 against the Houston Astros. Garver’s majestic drive was the third-longest ever by a Texas batter at Globe Life Field – 462 feet by Joey Gallo and 460 by DJ Peters, both in 2021.

Garver’s previous best was 447 feet on April 8, 2022 at the Toronto Blue Jays and the longest ever by a Rangers catcher in the Statcast Era (beg. 2015), surpassing a 456-footer by Robinson Chirinos in 2018.

Garver has settled in nicely since taking over the primary catching duties with Jonah Heim on the injured list. (The Rangers are “very optimistic” Heim returns this season.) Garver has homered in two of his last three games and three of his last eight after totaling just four long balls in his first 31 games of the season.

He also caught Max Scherzer for the first time Thursday. After giving up three runs in the first inning, the former New York Mets ace blanked the White Sox for the next five frames.

“Once he got comfortable, found his groove, and really started filling up the strike zone, it made a huge difference for him,” Garver said. “He’s a really good competitor. He’s very passionate about what he does. We just keep that open line of communication going in between innings. We’re talking ideas to each other and you saw how it worked there in those middle innings.”

You can follow Art Garcia on Twitter @ArtGarcia92.

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