“It’s never happened before,” Napoli told reporters, via NESN. “I think I broke it on my at-bat before when I hit the ball to right (field). I wasn’t sure, but I thought I hit it on the barrel. It was just a weird feeling. The bat exploded and I was just kind of sitting there. It’s a weird feeling anytime you do that. I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.
“I was just kind of running around the bases like, ‘What just happened?’” The homer was Napoli’s fourth of spring training. It played a small role in Boston’s 14-2 win over the Twins.
Broken bat home runs are nothing new, but they are rare. It takes incredible power to hit a ball out of the park while your bat breaks off.
