Hey, Mike Trout, could we see shots like that in home run derby?

REPORTING FROM KANSAS CITY —  Mike Trout hit a ball nearly 500 feet here Friday. He is one of the most popular players in baseball, and he should be a natural for the All-Star game home run derby.

The captain of the American League team is Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. Trout said he has not received an invitation to compete. If he gets an invitation, would he compete?

“I don’t know,” he said.

He put on quite a show Friday, hitting what might have been the longest home run in Kauffman Stadium history, on a fastball from former teammate Jason Vargas. The ball splashed down in a fountain high and deep beyond left-center field, and the Royals estimated the distance at 445 feet.

That was impressive enough, until ESPN announced its own estimate -- 489 feet, which would make the home run the longest in the majors this season and the longest ever by Trout. The ESPN number is not calculated by figuring the distance to where the ball lands, but by figuring where the ball would land had it traveled, unimpeded, back to ground level.

“I’ve been here five years, and that’s the most impressive home run I’ve seen here,” Royals Manager Ned Yost said. “I mean, it was absolutely crushed.”

“That ball went about as far as you’re going to see a ball hit,” Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said.

Trout is tied for fifh in the AL in home runs, with 18. He is second in slugging percentage (.616) and first in OPS (1.019).

Trout said he likes hitting here -- he hit a shot last year off another former teammate, Ervin Santana, that was projected at 463 feet,

“I squared it up,” he said. “I definitely barrelled it.”