Pirates' Oneil Cruz Crushes The Hardest Statcast Home Run Ever Recorded: WATCH
Outfielder breaks his own record for the highest exit velocity on a batted ball.
You see a lot of home runs getting hit every MLB season, but you never see one hit like the one Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz hit against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
Or, at least, you haven't seen anyone hit one like it in the last decade or so.
With the Pirates trailing 3-0, Cruz was at the dish in the bottom of the third inning to face righty Logan Henderson. The 26-year-old outfielder didn't feel like waiting and swung at the first offering from the Brewers rookie, promptly sending it into near-Earth orbit.
Are you kidding me?
According to MLB.com, that ball came off the bat at 122.9 mph and traveled 432 feet, which was plenty far enough for it to clear PNC Park and one-hop splash into the Allegheny River.
The velocity of that ball made it the hardest hit on record in the Statcast era, which dates back to 2015.
That bomb was Cruz' 11th of the year, but unfortunately for the Pirates, it wasn't quite enough as they wound up losing to the Brewers 6-5. It's incredible, but at this point, should we be expecting anything less from Cruz?
The record exit-velo Cruz broke just so happened to be his own. In August 2022, Cruz cranked a base hit off the outfield wall at 122.4 mph.
The previous mark for the hardest-hit home run was held by Giancarlo Stanton, who clobbered a round-tripper in 2018 that hit 121.7 on the gun.
It makes you wonder how much more Cruz has in the tank. If he can hit 122.9, why couldn't he do a few pre-game curls and cross the 123-mph threshold?