COORS FIELD, Denver – When Willson Contreras stepped up to the plate in the middle of an inning, no one expected the stadium to fall silent.
The swing sent the ball soaring through the air – straight down the center field, 443 feet – and disappearing behind the bleachers as the fans roared. It wasn’t just a home run. It was a star-studded “destroyer,” and it came from a man who had been doubted, criticized … but who had always responded with action.
“443 feet… Willson Contreras DESTROYED this baseball!!”
All you need to know about the situation is the look on the opposing player’s face—heads down, frozen, staring at the ball as if they’d just witnessed a slash across the sky.
According to MLB, the home run was Contreras’ 12th solo homer of the season—and one of his longest since joining the Cardinals.
Having been questioned since leaving the Chicago Cubs—the team with whom he won the 2016 World Series—Contreras has worked tirelessly to prove his worth in St. Louis. And in that moment, he didn’t just say it—he said it with 443 feet.
The Cardinals were outplayed, and Contreras’s home run was the key to the win.
With his form on the rise and his fighting spirit on fire, Willson Contreras has shown that he is not only a good catcher – but also the soul of the Cardinals offense in the fierce period of the season.
“I don’t need to say much. I just need that hit to answer everything,” – a source in the locker room revealed Contreras’s short post-game words.
A home run is not just a score. It is a statement, a response to all the doubters, the power of a man who chose to be silent in order to act.
And today – that ball has not dropped.