Sod Poodles celebrate 527-foot homer in style

On July 16, 2022, Leandro Cedeño of the Amarillo Sod Poodles took a mighty hack at a 3-0 pitch in his third trip to the plate. Instantly, knowing he had crushed it, he sauntered out of the box and took a well-earned trot around the bases.

Little did he know, he had just made history. The dinger traveled an estimated 527 feet beyond the fence in center field of HODGETOWN, making it the longest home run on record in the Statcast era (since 2015).

The D-backs' Double-A affiliate celebrated Cedeño’s legendary dinger with a t-shirt giveaway on Monday. The first 1,500 fans through the gates received the exclusive item.

"Our fans really, really grab onto everything the team does. It's like their Major League team," Amarillo broadcaster Stefan Caray said. "527 feet is no joke. He did it on a promotional night last year, and it was amazing. It's something that I don't think anyone will ever forget here in Amarillo."

"It's a testament to our community and our town to buy into the brand of the Sod Poodles, and by extension, the players and their accomplishments," added brother and broadcast partner Chris Caray.

Indeed, the Sod Poodles were doing their Christmas in July promotion that night, so Cedeño was wearing an ugly sweater jersey when he clobbered the milestone homer.

"Oh my god, that's amazing, I never think I can hit a ball that far," Cedeno told MLB.com after learning how far his home run traveled. "I thought for sure [it was a] homer. I stepped up to the plate like 'Okay, I got that one,' and I enjoyed the moment."

527 FEET for Leandro Cedeno 🤯

The @Dbacks infield prospect obliterated this ball for the @sodpoodles! pic.twitter.com/GHqtLFJV7e

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) July 17, 2022

Amarillo fans are some of the most supportive in all of Minor League Baseball. When it came to Cedeño's short but sweet tenure with the team, he quickly became a fan favorite, in no small part due to his ability to mash -- the 24-year-old clubbed a career-high 32 homers last season, 30 of which were with the Sod Poodles.

"The fans connected with Leandro in a way that's different than many other players," Stefan said. "To hit a home run and make it special at HODGETOWN is hard to do."

So far this season, only one home run across Major and Minor League Baseball has traveled over 500 feet -- Angels outfielder Jo Adell’s 514-foot tank for the Salt Lake Bees on June 20. Technically, Adell's dinger is the longest in the Statcast era, since all Triple-A stadiums are equipped with Statcast technology, while most of the other levels use Trackman devices for their estimates.

Thus, both Carays know that it may not be officially true to crown Cedeño's homer as the longest. But because Amarillo's Trackman doesn't take into account wind or elevation, Chris says that the dinger may have actually traveled even farther.

"If it had taken into account wind and elevation, there's a chance that ball may have actually went 560 feet," he said. "I know it sounds crazy, but somehow, someway, it looked further than 527 feet. When I look back at the video, I go, 'Holy smokes, that ball was just obliterated.'"

So where is Cedeño now? He begins 2023 manning first base for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s highest level of the sport.