Watching moonshots is my favorite activity. But do you know what’s a close second? Watching home runs that look like they were shot out of a cannon. So, you better believe I enjoyed making this list of the hardest-hit home runs of 2024.

There are no surprises here. All the dudes highlighted below are the ones you’d expect to see here. Three appear more than once, as well.

I’ll stop stalling and get into it — let’s dive into the 10 hardest-hit home runs of 2024.

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Hardest-Hit Home Runs of 2024 MLB Season

10. Yordan Alvarez: 117 mph

Date: August 7

Yordan Alvarez continues to be a model of consistency and power. This rocket came during a key divisional matchup against the Texas Rangers. His 2024 campaign was another gem, including 35 home runs and a .959 OPS. He led the Astros in homers for the third straight year. The slugger also crushed on the road, slugging 22 of his homers with a .670 OPS as a visiting player.

9. Oneil Cruz: 117.3 mph

Date: June 30

Oneil Cruz is a human highlight reel, and this moonshot is just more proof of that. His insane combination of size, speed, and power at just 26 years old has me excited for his future. While manning the outfield appears to be a likely permanent position change, he set the Pirates’ single-season home run record for shortstops in 2024.

T-7. Aaron Judge: 117.5 mph

Date: August 2

What’s a list like this without Aaron Judge? The (now) two-time AL MVP brought his trademark thunder to help the Yankees make a comeback in this particular contest. Judge’s 58 homers were the most in MLB, and he led all hitters in average exit velocity (96.3 mph). More on him in a little bit.

T-7. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 117.5 mph

Date: July 19

Vlad Jr.’s bat speed is something to marvel at, and this laser just added fuel to the fire. He slugged 30 homers with 103 RBI in 2024, the first time he’s reached both those benchmarks since 2021. He also added 44 doubles and a .323 average for good measure.

6. Oneil Cruz: 117.7 mph

Date: June 6

Cruz makes another appearance, and it’s well-deserved. As I mentioned before, the dude is just 26 years old and played in 140-plus games for the first time as a big leaguer. The sky is the limit for him. This was one of five homers he slugged in June. That was his best single-month homer output for the year. He also matched that number in July.

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Hardest-Hit Home Runs of 2024 MLB Season

5. Shohei Ohtani: 118.1 mph

Date: September 11

What can’t Shohei Ohtani do? As we’ll see in a minute, this mammoth homer was just another day at the office for one of baseball’s most electrifying players. His huge September helped him become the founding member of the 50-50 club and set a new single-season home run record for the Dodgers.

T-3. Shohei Ohtani: 118.7 mph

Date: April 23

Ohtani’s first of two homers at this exit velocity was a missile to right field, leaving the ballpark in the blink of an eye. By April, Shohei was already on pace for his best offensive season yet. His 54 home runs tied David Ortiz for the most dingers in a single season by a primary designated hitter.

T-3. Shohei Ohtani: 118.7 mph

Date: July 27

There goes that man again (again). As you can imagine, he was quite consistent all year. Ohtani hit at least six homers in each month of the 2024 season. This was punctuated by three months of double-digit homers (12 in June and August, as well as 10 in September).

2. Giancarlo Stanton: 118.8 mph

Date: May 7

Few players hit the ball as hard—as often—as Giancarlo Stanton. This homer was a no-doubter from the moment it left his bat. The right-handed slugger’s 2024 regular season may have been quieter overall, but he bounced back from a weird 2023 campaign. Stanton finished with 27 homers. It was the 13th time he finished with at least 22 homers in a season since debuting with the Marlins in 2010.

1. Giancarlo Stanton: 119.9 mph

Date: May 8

And here’s the king of exit velocity himself. Stanton’s league-leading blast came on a 1-2 pitch that was crushed into the second deck for baseball’s hardest-hit dinger of the season. Stanton will be remembered for a few things once his career is through, but his ability to hit absolute lasers will be toward the top of the list.

All stats are courtesy of Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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