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Fact-checking is important, no matter how fun the lie would be.

Plus: Notes from Ken on the Dodgers and Luis Robert, we spotlight a couple stories on lesser-known subjects, and it’s the grand return of the Baseball Card of the Week! I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

Well, Actually: No, that was not a 594-foot home run

I am sorry to do this, but I’m about to wreck your fun.

With no MLB games happening over the last few days, I think we collectively got a little antsy. So when the posts began circulating Wednesday night claiming that former Rockies corner infielder Elehuris Montero had hit a 594-foot home run off Trevor Bauer in Japan, it really took off. The claim and video were reposted and shared widely across social media. Take a look.

【6回裏】
＼＼＼欲しかった一発／／／#モンテロ がレフトへ特大ホームラン💥
久々の打線爆発で気持ちいい✨
#carp #カープ

–✅7/17(木) 『カープ県LIVE』開催！–#緒方孝市 元監督とカープファン限定スペースで生中継観戦🎏
詳しくは https://t.co/LlLKboBAzK pic.twitter.com/KcxqxEbh68

— 【公式】カープ県@7/28(月)21時〜生配信 (@sptvcarp) July 16, 2025

And hey, I get it: I think we’re all a little on edge these days, wondering when karma is going to catch up. It really increases the temptation to believe things that feed our sense of schadenfreude — and nobody invites schadenfreude quite like a former big-leaguer with Bauer’s history telling the world that there are only “like 20 hitters on the planet that are true competition” for him — then being sent to the minor leagues in Japan while he goes 4-7 with a 4.06 ERA.

But … come on. 594 feet?! Surely not, right? That would be — and some of the posts explicitly made this claim — the longest recorded home run in history, edging out a 582-foot blast hit by Joey Meyer as a minor leaguer in 1987. That record-holder happened in the altitude of Denver, Colo. (Side note: Denver is also where Montero hit the longest home run of his big-league career — it went 449 feet.)

This stadium in Hiroshima is basically at sea level. This story was quickly falling apart.

One problem: There’s no publicly listed home run distance tracker for NPB games. So I did the next-best thing: I e-mailed Montero’s team, the Hiroshima Carp!

Here’s their response:

“As far as we have checked the local news paper company’s information, recent Montero’s homer again(st) Bauer says 120 meters (that is about 393 feet). We believe the information you found on online posts are wrong.”

People were mad at me for posting this (I think they were joking. Probably.) So if — as one reply suggested — “it still went 594 feet in our hearts,” you’re certainly free to feel however you like.

But in Hiroshima, it only went about 393 feet.

Ken Rosenthal’s Notebook: Dodgers going shopping

From my latest notes column:

Dodgers seeking pitching: So much for the Los Angeles Dodgers building enough depth to make their team deadline-proof.

After investing a combined $107 million in free-agent relievers Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen and Kirby Yates, the Dodgers are expected to pursue bullpen help, according to sources briefed on the team’s plans.

Part of the Dodgers’ motivation stems from Scott’s struggles — he has allowed eight homers with a 4.09 ERA, compared to three homers with a 1.75 ERA last season for Miami and San Diego.

Part of it also stems from injuries. While some of the Dodgers’ injured relievers are projected to return, the production they will provide is not certain.

Evan Phillips underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery on June 4.
Treinen is expected to rejoin the team next week after a three-month absence due to forearm tightness.
Michael Kopech, whose season production amounts to seven scoreless innings in June, is on track to return next month from surgery to repair a damaged meniscus in his right knee.
Brusdar Graterol, who underwent right shoulder surgery last November, could begin a rehabilitation assignment next month.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hates overpaying at the deadline, and constructed his 2025 roster with the express purpose of avoiding such a fate.

Looks like he’ll be shopping again, anyway.

What will be with the LVP: In his recent midseason awards column, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark named Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert his Least Valuable Player.

“He has one job — to get himself traded,” Stark quoted a friend as saying. “And he’s failing!”

The problem for the White Sox is they might face little choice but to move Robert anyway. There seems virtually no chance of the team exercising Robert’s $20 million option for 2026. A trade would be the only way for the team to get something back, however meager.

Robert’s .190 batting average is the second lowest among qualifiers after Michael Conforto’s .184. He has struck out nearly twice as many times (93) as he has hits (51). His offense is so bad, his bWAR is at replacement level and his fWAR is just slightly above, even though he has stolen 22 bases in 28 attempts and rates above-average in center.

Perhaps a team such as the San Diego Padres would take Robert if the White Sox included a portion of his remaining salary, something the team has indicated a willingness to do. But even then, the White Sox could not count on getting much of a return. Robert’s value keeps sinking, and time is running out.

Read These: Two great ‘spotlight’ stories

Some of my favorite sports stories are ones that go extremely in-depth on a subject I don’t know much about. We have two of them for you today:

In the first, Sam Blum checks in on Chris Carter. The former A’s, Astros, Brewers and Yankees slugger hit his 500th professional home run recently. But not only did it not happen in a big-league uniform, it didn’t even happen stateside. Carter, at 38 years old, is playing in Mexico. He hasn’t been in the big leagues since 2017.

In his last full MLB season — 2016, with the Brewers, Carter led the NL in home runs, with 41. That offseason, he was non-tendered. Blum spoke to Carter about that, and much more, as the real-life “Crash Davis” passed the milestone.

In the second story, Matt Gelb tagged along with Phillies rookie Otto Kemp, who recently visited the “most scenic ballpark in America” — Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. That’s where Kemp played baseball as a walk-on in college before going undrafted in 2022. It’s a great glimpse into an underdog story that has thus far trended toward a happy ending.

Both stories are worth your time even if — no, particularly if — you’re unfamiliar with Carter or Kemp.

Baseball Card of the Week: 2022 Topps Nolan Arenado

Can I admit something? I meant to start doing this every Friday when the regular season began, and I just … forgot. Didn’t even think about it. But one of our editors dropped me a message this week and said people miss it.

Oh, right! I was going to do that. So we’re bringing it back for the second half.

This week’s card features a callback to our first story today: Before this week’s viral moment, Elehuris Montero’s biggest claim to fame was probably being part of the trade from the Cardinals to the Rockies for this guy.

So why this card, instead of any of my other Arenado cards? Eh, I just think it’s cool he’s blowing a bubble in the middle of a play.

Handshakes and High Fives

It has been a while since I put my hand over my mouth while reading a story. Today’s from Larry Holder — about an FBI bust of a memorabilia counterfeiter, and how Fanatics aided the investigation — did the job.

It feels fated at this point, but Richard Deitsch asks the question: How much longer until the World Series is exclusively broadcast via streaming?

Dan Brown got the backstory on the viral photo of Henry Aaron’s widow watching the All-Star Game tribute to the home run king.

Here’s a wild question: How much longer does Aaron Judge need to stay healthy and productive to become the greatest Yankee of all time?

What a year of ups and downs for Diamondbacks infielder Ketel Marte. The latest: His home was burglarized while he was playing in the All-Star Game.

Dr. David Altchek, Mets medical director and one of the game’s pre-eminent elbow surgeons, died yesterday at 68 years old.

Jim Bowden suggests the trade deadline should be moved back to Aug. 15. I gotta admit: He makes some compelling points.

Our bold predictions for the second half include two different teams reuniting with Eugenio Suárez. Meanwhile, we have an All-30 with one defining stat for each team.

Keith Law’s division-by-division draft class review wraps today with the AL Central and AL East.

On the pods: On “Rates & Barrels,” Stephen Nesbitt joined DVR to preview second-half bounce-back candidates and the highs and lows of the All-Star break.

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Nesbitt’s story that asked if MLB should expand the All-Star Game swing-off to the regular season.

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(Photo of Bauer in 2019: Kareem Elgazzar / The Enquirer / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)