Giancarlo Stanton crushes homer over the batter’s eye (Video)

Giancarlo Stanton has the ability to put baseballs into orbit every time he steps to the plate, and he did just that in Pittsburgh.

There are few active players in Major League Baseball who make it worthwhile to drop everything you are doing and find a screen. Giancarlo Stanton is one of those few. On Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Miami Marlins outfielder hit a tape-measure shot to dead center field and over the batter’s eye at PNC Park.

With the Marlins batting in the top of the third inning, Stanton dug in for a 1-2 pitch against Pirates rookie Tyler Glasnow. The rookie right-hander went for the strikeout with a breaking ball down and away. Against any hitter, Glasnow’s 82-mph bender might have yielded a strikeout or a weak popup.

Not so against the hitter, who outside of Aaron Judge, might have the most raw power in baseball. Stanton golfed the pitch nearly 450 feet to dead center field and over the top of the batter’s eye.

Glasnow’s pitch caught too much of the plate, but it was still in the lower half of the strike zone. There are few hitters that can turn that pitch into a home run to straight-away center field, let alone hit it over the batter’s eye. Stanton’s home runs have a special look off the bat, with a low trajectory and high exit velocity.

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This was Stanton’s 16th home run of the season and raised his batting average to .286. The big outfielder has taken kindly to his move into the two-hole of the Marlins lineup. His batting average and .924 OPS are his best since 2014 and he is on track to approach his career high in home runs. After battling injuries and strikeouts for the better part of three years, Giancarlo Stanton may be back on track.