DETROIT -- If it seems like David Ortiz's home runs are going farther than ever, it's because they are.

Ortiz hit his second home run in as many games Saturday night, a sixth-inning drive off Detroit Tigers starter Alfredo Simon that traveled 409 feet in "true distance," as measured by ESPN Home Run Tracker, a device used by ESPN Stats & Info.

For Ortiz, that home run traveled just slightly less than the true distance average of his 23 home runs this season: 409.2 feet. That average is more than 8 feet longer than the 401 feet Ortiz averaged in 2014 and is his best average in the 10 seasons since a U.S. Navy navigator and nuclear engineer named Greg Rybarcyzk devised his system for measuring home runs. Rybarcyzk now works as a baseball operations analyst for the Boston Red Sox.

On Friday in Comerica Park, against Tigers rookie left-hander Daniel Norris, Ortiz drove into the seats a ball that measured 445 feet.

That was one of 10 home runs Ortiz has hit this season that traveled 430 feet or more in true distance. Before this season, the most home runs of that distance Ortiz had hit in the past 10 years was 11, in 2006. That's the year he hit a club-record 54 home runs, so roughly 20 percent of his home runs that season were blasts of 430 feet or more.

So far this season, 43.5 percent of Ortiz's homers have gone 430 feet or more. That includes three of his past five: the home run off Norris, the 441-foot blast he hit off New York Yankees rookie Luis Severino on Wednesday, and a 435-foot shot off Tigers reliever Shane Greene on July 26 at Fenway Park. That was one of two home runs Ortiz hit that night; the other, off Neftali Feliz, flew just 411 feet.

"That means, consistently, I'm swinging out of my ass," Ortiz said with a smile.

All of this power is coming from a 39-year-old man who, entering play June 11, was batting just .219 with six home runs in his first 52 games. Those numbers inspired widespread speculation that Ortiz's bat had slowed and his career was in inevitable decline.

"There's power, there's plate coverage, he's seeing the ball well," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Obviously, opposing pitchers are being extremely careful with him, and when he does get his pitch, he's not missing it.

"He is in a groove. He's locked in. The ball's coming off his bat great."

Does it feel to Ortiz like he is hitting the ball farther than ever?

"No," he said Saturday. "When I put a good swing on the ball, it goes pretty far. You've been watching for years. Don't act like you haven't."

Ortiz's past six home runs have traveled an average true distance of 426.3 feet. Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson leads the majors in average true distance, with 426.8 feet.

True distance, as defined by Rybarcyzk: "If a home run flew uninterrupted all the way back to field level, [true distance is] the actual distance the ball traveled from home plate, in feet. If the ball's flight was interrupted before returning all the way down to field level [as is usually the case], [true distance] is the estimated distance the ball would have traveled if its flight had continued uninterrupted all the way down to field level."

Ortiz sounded surprised when the numbers were relayed to him.

"No way," he said. "They keep track of all that stuff?

"Hey, listen: During the summer, the ball carries pretty good. That's one thing I know. That's why I like to swing hard in the summer."

The following chart lists Ortiz's average true distance by year, the number of home runs he has hit that traveled 430 feet or farther, and his longest home run by true distance: