Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Josh Bell has hit 200 home runs since reaching the majors in 2016, with 198 of them coming in the regular season and the other two coming in October. Which of them is the most memorable? I asked the Minnesota Twins first baseman/DH that question prior to a recent game at Fenway Park.

“The first one [on July 9, 2016] is probably my favorite,” replied Bell, who spent his first five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. “The grand slam. It was my second day in the big leagues, and I’d gotten a hit the night before, pinch-hitting, so I was batting 1.000. Bases loaded, Adam Warren [on the mound], a Cubs-Pirates rivalry game at PNC on a Saturday night. The place was packed. The ball leaves my bat and I know that it’s gone. My parents were there, too — I gave them the ball — so that one was definitely special. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

A first home run, be it a grand slam or a solo shot, is going to be a favorite for most players. But there will be others that stand out as well, and in Bell’s case, a few of them are Statcast outliers. We’ll get to those in a moment.

Two of his most memorable blasts involved teammates. The first came on June 11, 2022 with the Washington Nationals, while the second was on August 14, 2023 with the Miami Marlins.

“I’ve got a couple that were back-to-back-to-back homers,” Bell recalled. “One was with the Nats — [Juan] Soto, [Nelson] Cruz, me — and the other was with the Marlins: [Jorge] Soler, [Luis] Arraez, me. I was the third guy both times. Those are always cool, because the pressure is on. Two in a row is easy, but three in a row is kind of special.”

I asked the well-traveled slugger (Bell has played for seven different teams) why a hitter would feel pressure in such situations.

“I mean, it’s like… Then the guy after you feels even more pressure, because four in a row, in the big leagues, hardly ever happens,” he replied.

MLB history includes 11 instances of a team hitting four consecutive home runs. It was last done on July 2, 2022, when Nolan Arenado, Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez and Dylan Carlson pulled off the feat for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bell’s next memory is from October 7, 2022.

“My first one in the postseason, against [Max] Scherzer, is one I’ll never forget,’ said Bell, who was then with the San Diego Padres. “It was my first postseason at-bat. That was in the Wild Card, against the Mets. Winning that series was huge.

“I’ve always seen Scherzer well, so I felt comfortable” continued Bell, who is 6-for-14 with a home run, five walks and a HBP in 20 regular season plate appearances versus the two-time Cy Young Award winner. “I remember the count being 3-0, then he threw a fastball on the black, away, that I took, even though I had a green light. Then he threw a fastball middle-away, and I took it the other way.

“I’d been grinding with the Padres, too,” he went on to say. “Absolutely grinding. But when you get to the postseason, you can be a new player. I turned it on that postseason [9-for-30 with two home runs] and we made it pretty far — until we ran into the Phillies [in the NLCS].”

Then there were the outliers.

“I had the highest home run in big league history last year,” explained Bell, referring to the June 23, 2025 pitch that was 4.65 feet above the ground. “It was against a lefty for the Padres — I forget who he was [Yuki Matsui] — and Statcast registered it as the highest home run in history. It was way out of the strike zone. I was running around the bases like, ‘I’m in a dark place if I’m hitting that ball out. I need to be hitting fastballs right down the middle, and not swinging at that.’ But it was still cool.”

“I also had the hardest-thrown ball hit for a homer in big league history,” Bell continued, citing the 102.9-mph sinker he launched into the seats on August 2, 2024. “That was against [Aroldis] Chapman. I had that record for about a month, then Ian Happ topped me. His was off of Mason Miller [on a 103.2-mph fastball]. But yeah, those are both pretty memorable. Kind of outliers, I guess.”