Hitting a home run in Major League Baseball requires a considerable amount strength. It’s probably fair to presume, however that, having previously hit 53 of them in a single season, Chris Davis is in the upper reaches of physical strength among MLB players. Of Davis’ 190 career home runs, likely none has displayed that strength more clearly than the one he hit this weekend to beat Oakland — even though that homer failed to travel even 400 feet.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, Chris Davis came to the plate with no runners on against switch-pitching Pat Venditte. A 69 mph slider headed to the plate low and away out of the strike zone. Chris Davis did not appear to get a good swing on the ball:

Yet, somehow, the ball ended up here:

The pitch low and away to a left-handed hitter is not generally a good one for batters to drive. At Baseball Savant, pitches are divided into sections. Chris Davis’ home run was outside of the strike zone in section 13 in the map below (catcher’s POV).

Left-handers typically struggle with the pitch in section 13, recording just a .198 batting average and a .248 slugging percentage on pitches in that section. The average exit velocity on the pitches in that spot is under 85 mph, about four ticks fewer than the average hit. That pitch has resulted in nearly three times the amount of strikeouts (3140) compared to walks (1195) against left-handers despite the pitch being out of the strike zone. Those pitches have resulted in just 56 home runs to left-handers this year. Chris Davis has not had quite the same struggles on the pitch. (Data in the above paragraph and much of this piece from Baseball Savant)

Of the 56 home runs from left-handers in the 13th section, Chris Davis has five of them. Carlos Gonzalez, also with five home runs from the same section, is the only other player with more than three dingers. Chris Davis has a .433 slugging percentage in that zone, fourth among lefties with at least 50 plate appearances in the 13th section. Among the game’s hardest hitters, Davis has produced an exit velocity of over 89 mph in that section, faster than the average for all pitches.

Lumping Davis’ shot in as one of 56 homers does not do Davis’ absurd effort justice. Not only did Davis hit a home run from section 13, he was able to pull the ball. Only 29 of those 56 home runs were pulled, and again Chris Davis and Carlos Gonzalez are tied for the lead with three apiece — while only four players have recorded more than a single pulled shot from the 13th section .

We can drill down further. Not only did Chris Davis hit the pitch out of the park, and not only did he pull the pitch, he pulled the pitch against a left-hander. Only six home runs have been pulled from section 13 this season, and Chris Davis has two of them. I took a look at all six home runs, the two by Davis as well as one each by Adrian Gonzalez, Brian McCann, Mike Moustakas, and Ryan Howard. Looking at section 13 above, we can see that it curves around the strike zone and includes pitches that are belt-high but outside or over the plate but low. This was where Venditte’s pitch to Davis was headed, when Davis sent it out of the park, per Brooks Baseball.

The only home-run pitch of those looked at above that was both outside and low was the pitch to Chris Davis. A similar search of right-handed hitters who hit home runs from section 14 against a right-handed pitcher found no other home runs that were both outside and low.

So how did Chris Davis hit that home run? The pitch was just under 70 miles per hour, and there have been only 24 home runs on pitches below 70 miles per hour this season, with Jered Weaver and Steven Wright on the receiving end of half of those shots. While the low velocity and location might have normally made the pitch more difficult to knock out of the park, the pitch that so fooled him combined with his incredible strength made the pulling that pitch out of the park possible, according to resident expert Dan Farnsworth. I asked Farnsworth how Davis could hit that pitch with that swing and hit it out of the park, and he explained:

Davis’ swing is built to hit low pitches, though obviously not to that extent normally. His barrel is always coming up through the ball, often almost to a fault, every swing. He’s clearly fooled on that pitch, as you can see him bend forward over the plate in the middle of his swing to be able to reach it. His being fooled is also what results in the ball being pulled.

Notice Davis’ bend from the center-field camera angle here:

It was not enough that Davis was merely fooled by a very slow pitch. Farnsworth also discussed the strength necessary to launch the ball.

Davis is also an extremely powerful dude. Even though he effectively only has his upper body strength left to drive the ball, half his body coupled with his hand path and squaring the ball up leads to the ridiculous home run he hit.

Witness the strength of Chris Davis using only half of his body:

The home run by Davis was not just impressive, not just rare, it was also incredibly important to an Orioles club chasing a wild-card berth. After a home run Friday and two home runs Saturday, Davis raised his total to 34 on the season. His wRC+ of 143 was good for seventh in the American League, and more importantly for Baltimore, the team finished the weekend ahead in the race for the second wild card. The last month has provided a great turnaround for the Orioles, once multiple games under .500 and chasing as many as four teams for a playoff spot, the team, with great thanks to the strength of Davis, is well positioned for a return to October baseball.