Revisiting Kemp Alderman and his ridiculous exit velocities

Nine games into its national title defense campaign, Ole Miss is showing signs of being a team that will devour average to bad pitching, picking it clean to the bone.

The defending national champions* have posted a +46 run differential, which includes three games where they won via the 10-run rule (33 percent of all games, if you’re scoring at home).

*Did I swerve out of the way to be redundant there because it’s fun to say every chance I get? YOU KNOW I DID.

Granted, the competition will increase once conference play starts, but it’s encouraging to see the offense punish those which it should punish. It also helps us ignore that, in the 5 games against Maryland (3) and Louisiana Tech (2), the pitching staff gave up 32 runs. Nothing to see here! Please move along!

In their early offensive onslaught, Ole Miss batters have been lighting up opposing pitchers with some absurd exit velocities*. I touched on this last week with a look at Kemp Alderman’s exit velocity work, dating back to last season’s College World Series, which you may recall Ole Miss winning**.

*If you’re new here, exit velocity measures the speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat immediately after contact. Anything over 100 MPH is strong-ass strength.

*MORE REDUNDANCY.

What I didn’t do last week was compare Alderman’s work in this field to that of his teammates. Take a look at the top exit velocities this season (via @OMBSBAnalytics). As a note, I narrowed the list to 105 mph and above.

Top Exit Velocities in 2023

1st

Kemp Alderman - 116 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 3)

Kemp Alderman - 116 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 3)

3rd

Kemp Alderman - 114 mph (vs. Louisiana Tech, Game 1)

Anthony Calarco - 114 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 2)

5th

Kemp Alderman - 113 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 2)

Anthony Calarco - 113 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 1)

7th

Kemp Alderman - 112 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 3)

Kemp Alderman - 112 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 3)

Judd Utermark - 112 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 2)

10th

Kemp Alderman - 111 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 3)

11th

Kemp Alderman - 110 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 3)

Kemp Alderman - 110 mph (vs. Arkansas State)

13th

Kemp Alderman - 109 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 1)

Anthony Calarco - 109 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 2)

15th

Kemp Alderman - 108 mph (vs. Arkansas State)

Anthony Calarco - 108 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 2)

TJ McCants - 108 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 3)

18th

Kemp Alderman - 107 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 2)

Anthony Calarco - 107 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 1)

Tywone Malone - 107 mph (vs. Arkansas State)

TJ McCants - 107 mph (vs. Arkansas State)

22nd

Jacob Gonzalez - 106 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 2)

Ethan Groff - 106 mph (vs. Arkansas State)

Calvin Harris - 106 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 3)

25th

Kemp Alderman - 105 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 3)

Jacob Gonzalez - 105 mph (vs. Delaware, Game 3)

Ethan Groff - 105 mph (vs. Maryland, Game 2)

In that list, there are 27 entries. Of those 27, Kemp Alderman’s name appears 13 times. THIRTEEN. And of the top 10, Alderman owns 7 (as well as 11 of the top 15).

So, friends, if you’re once again scoring at home, that’s:

• Entire team minus Kemp Alderman exit velocities at 105 mph or higher - 14
• Kemp Alderman exit velocities at 105 mph or higher - 13

Is that good?

As I noted last week, he set a similar pace in Omaha* in June. Prior to Game 2** of the championship series, Alderman had 7 exit velocities of 108 mph or higher, while no other player in the ENTIRE FIELD had more than 3.

*Omaha is a place where Ole Miss won the College World Series in 2022.

**Ole Miss won this game to win the national championship.

Finally, as also discussed in last week’s post, I wrote about his launch angle, which was fairly low on one of his swings. I mentioned that if he were to increase his launch angle, hooooo boy, it might land in the Ford Center.

Well, this one on Wednesday against Louisiana Tech didn’t make it to the Ford Center, but that sucker was tracking.

Point of order: if Alderman gets this kind of extension with his arms...

...there’s a good chance the ball is going to land at least here:

Let us hope this display of power continues all season because it’s incredible to watch, and we want to see the 500-foot barrier breached.