Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. clocks 4th fastest inside the park homer since 2015

There’s fast, there’s FAST, and then there’s Bobby Witt Jr. fast.

The Kansas City Royals’ shortstop hit his 22nd homer of the season on Monday and did it with panache. If you didn’t blink, that is.

BOBBY WITT JR.

14.3 SEC HOME-TO-HOME

that’s the 4th-fastest home-to-home time tracked by Statcast (2015), behind only:

8/18/17 Byron Buxton: 13.9 sec
10/2/16 Byron Buxton: 14.1 sec
6/30/15 Dee Strange-Gordon: 14.2 sec https://t.co/NwprpuVpCe

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 15, 2023

On a line drive to right field at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City, former Arizona Diamondback and current Seattle Mariner outfielder Dominic Canzone lost the ball in the light and it sailed past him to the wall.

And that’s all the excuse Witt needed to turn on the afterburners.

He was timed, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, at 14.3 seconds home-to-home. That’s good for the fourth fastest time in the Statcast era, which dates back to 2015.

Here’s who accomplished the feat faster:

• 13.9 seconds — Byron Buxton, Aug. 18, 2017
• 14.1 seconds — Buxton, Oct. 2, 2016
• 14.2 seconds — Dee Strange-Gordon, June 30, 2015

While the 23-year-old Witt may be fast, he’s only marginally faster than Diamondbacks rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll.

According to MLB’s Baseball Savant, Witt’s sprint speed is fractionally better than Carroll’s — 30.4 feet per second versus 30.1. Carroll has a faster home plate to first base time, 4.08 seconds to 4.14 seconds, but remember: Carroll bats left handed and is a step closer to first base than Witt. Carroll’s home-to-first time is also the fastest in baseball.

The league’s fastest runner is the Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz, who tops out at 30.5 feet per second.

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