Anthony Santander's first home run as a Blue Jay was perfect

It’s no secret that Anthony Santander’s had a tough start to the season. While he is a notoriously slow starter, there was a little more pressure on Santander this year in his first season with the Blue Jays. 

But all the pressure and tension generated by his slow start disappeared with one swing.

Anthony Satander’s first home run as a Blue Jay was everything it should have been 

On Saturday, Santander visited Oriole Park at Camden Yards for the first time as a visitor and made his presence known by crushing a 404-foot home run — his first longball as a Blue Jay.

While Santander entered the game only hitting .185, no one around the team was worrying. He entered Saturday in the 69th percentile in exit velocity, and is a career .211 hitter in the first month of the season. 

As the weather heats up, so does Santander’s bat. 

But that doesn’t mean that he’s an automatic out in the batter’s box. 

His homer came in the third inning in his second at-bat against new Oriole Tomoyuki Sugano. Sugano got Santander to ground out on a splitter in their first at-bat, but missed with a fastball in their second matchup, and Stanader made him pay. 

The ball left Santander’s bat at 104.4 miles per hour, and would have been a home run in all 30 MLB parks.

The Blue Jays already had a lead before Santander stepped into the box the first time thanks to back-to-back doubles from Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to open the game.

Both balls had an exit velocity of 109+ mph, so it's clear that neither of them were fooled by Sugano's offering. The Blue Jays should see plenty of him this year, so those hot starts are a good sign.

Santander’s home run is something out of a storybook. Not only did it come against his former team, but it came against his former team at their ballpark in a game that holds a lot of significance despite it only being April. 

One home run doesn’t define a season for a player, but Stantander did his part to make sure that Blue Jays fans won’t forget his first home run in Blue Jays colors any time soon.