Hunter Renfroe’s home run last Sunday went 166 feet in the air and still traveled 373 feet.

At Petco Park, where balls don’t just jump from bat to seats.

"All of the launch angle for Hunter Renfroe!"



Launch angle: 4️⃣5️⃣ degrees. Distance: 3️⃣7️⃣3️⃣ feet.@Padres up 1-0! #LetsGoPadres pic.twitter.com/GR9M5199Qu — FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) September 16, 2018

The ball left Renfroe’s bat at 107 mph with a launch angle of 45 degrees.


“That’s impossible to be a homer, almost,” Renfroe said that day, a rare instance of the humble kid from Mississippi marveling at himself. “That’s half of straight in the air.”

Think about that.

He’s right on both accounts. Not only his geometry but the physics of the hit.

According to the Padres’ analytics, balls hit at a launch angle of 45 degrees have a one percent chance of leaving the park.


Renfroe estimates at least half his home runs are accidents. That skied one against the Rangers’ Mike Minor, which was the greatest launch angle and achieved the highest apex of any homer hit by a Padres player this season, certainly was.

“I was trying to hit a line drive,” he said. “I was out in front a little bit.”

The point is he is the rare man whose mistakes can become miracles.

The homer Renfroe scorched down the left-field line Friday night at Dodger Stadium was not mishit, but with its 20-degree launch angle might have hit the top of the wall and been a double in many ballparks.


Don't blink... you might miss it.



This one got out of here in a HURRY! Make it 2️⃣4️⃣ home runs on the season for @Hunter_Renfroe, and the @Padres have taken a 2-1 lead!#LetsGoPadres | #Padres pic.twitter.com/FozwrKjqMd — FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) September 22, 2018

The beauty of that is doubles are where it’s at for Renfroe.

“Doubles, most of them are good hits,” he said. “… I love those. You practice those. You really do. You get in the box in BP, coach throws down and away fastball, and you hit it.”

For all the other improvements that have Renfroe established as an everyday outfielder — either for the Padres or for one of the teams currently keeping an eye on his every move — it is his power that shows his strength and the potential of all he can be.


“It will give him a 100-percent advantage once he believes he has the ability and potential to take a half-swing and still hit home runs,” Padres hitting coach Matt Stairs said.

To be clear, that is the way Stairs talks, assessing hitters as though they are in a perpetual state of having to prove to themselves their capabilities.

For all intents and purposes, Renfroe has realized that reality about his raw power. But Stairs, while unfailingly optimistic, was a major league hitter for 20 years and knows the battle that wages from rookie year to retirement.

“His form is a lot better,” Stairs said. “The way he’s going through the baseball is different.”


Renfroe’s home run Friday was his 24th of the season and his major league-leading 16th since Aug. 5, about the time he started playing virtually every game.

Renfroe, 26, entered Saturday’s game against the Dodgers batting .249/.300/.509 this season. His batting average is up 18 points from last season, his on-base percentage 16 points and his slugging percentage 42 points. With another week left in the season, he has two fewer doubles (23), two fewer home runs (24), one fewer walk (26) and 36 fewer strikeouts (104) in 72 fewer plate appearances (407).

Whatever the Padres decide to do with their roster in advance of next season, they are delighted in Renfroe’s ascension. He has value to them — if partly because others are beginning to believe in his power.

Petco Park was thick with scouts this past homestand who were there, at least in part, to see for themselves and file reports on the Padres’ power-hitting corner outfielders.


One American League scout practically waxed poetic about Renfroe’s easy power and what that meant “he could do in our park.” Another acknowledged his opinion of Renfroe has evolved and pointed out the number of hitting philosophies Renfroe has tried to implement and that he seems to have found a level of comfort and understanding this season.

Renfroe is, indeed, chasing fewer bad pitches, hitting more good ones. He is more patient by virtually every measure — a lower first-pitch swing rate, more pitches per plate appearance, more walks, fewer strikeouts.

His confidence at the plate is manifest in a .178 average with 10 doubles and eight home runs with two strikes. That average is five points above this season’s major league average and 45 points better than Renfroe hit with two strikes in his rookie season.

As recently as April, Renfroe spoke candidly about essentially being hamstrung when behind in a count. He hit .198 in pitcher’s counts last season. He is hitting .273 when behind this season.


Perhaps the most impressive thing he has done is shorten his swing when the situation calls for it.

So, certainly, Renfroe’s power should not be played up too greatly on its own. He’s always had power.

The one thing he knew when he hit his first home run “at 7 or 8 or 9” was that he’d hit more.

“I hit that first one,” he said, “it was over.”


That was sort of the problem.

“The thing about Hunter is he can hit any pitch, anywhere out the ballpark — strike, ball, anything,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “I think that hurt him at times. I mean, if I hit a pitch that was above my head for a homer, I’d be like, ‘Throw it there. I’ll hit another homer.’ ”

But the the power’s importance cannot be underestimated. Without it, all that other stuff doesn’t mean nearly as much.

“Strength is king,” Padres strength and conditioning coach Brett McCabe said. “You can’t teach strength. You can build it over time. But guys that have that ‘country strong,’ it’s a pretty good deal.”


That’s because such strength is natural, fluid.

Padres players and coaches say Renfroe has been more consistent and committed to his weight room routine this year. But he isn’t breaking records in there, just maintaining, staying loose and limber and more recovering than building.

Renfroe wakes up able to do more physically than all but a precious few human beings. That includes other major league ballplayers.

Renfroe, at 6-foot-2 and a country comfortable 220 pounds, can box jump with the best of the Padres’ springy athletes, often leaping to the same height as Travis Jankowski, Manuel Margot and Franchy Cordero.


“It doesn’t look quite as graceful,” McCabe said. “but he gets it done.”

The thing is, Renfroe has always been a marvel. He is now respected.

“He’s a freak athlete, and it’s finally starting to show,” Jankowski said. “He’s not an easy out anymore. … He has stupid power, stupid strength. He’s fast, he has a hose for an arm. He realized it’s not enough. Some guys don’t figure that out. He is so naturally gifted, and his work ethic is awesome. You see some guys who have that talent go off what God gave him.”

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com