“A 122.4 mph Missile”: Oneil Cruz turning his bat into Lightning McQueen after smashing hardest-hit ball Statcast

“A 122.4 mph Missile”: Oneil Cruz turning his bat into Lightning McQueen after smashing hardest-hit ball Statcast

Oneil Cruz

Oneil Cruz has definitely been born with a turbo button in his arms, the man’s hand is FLASH in itself. The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie recorded the hardest-hit ball in the seven years that Major League Baseball has measured exit velocity, lashing a single that came off the bat at 122.4 mph in a 14-2 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Oneil Cruz’s hit was the hardest-hit ball in the entire Statcast era. The ball traveled an estimated 366 feet and would have been a home run in 26 of 30 Major League Baseball ballparks.

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“It’s probably good that ball hit a wall, because it might have hurt somebody if it had been up a little higher,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, which is indeed true. A fan would have gone home with some serious injury.

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“I did notice that it was starting to go down and about to hit the fence,” Oneil Cruz said. “That’s when I started running even harder. But I did expect it to go out. I didn’t expect it to hit the wall and come right back.”

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Oneil Cruz to cruise all-over Major League Baseball in the coming years

Oneil Cruz
Oneil Cruz

The sound coming out of Oneil Cruz’s bat was sweet as ever, pitcher Mitch Keller said, “It sounded like a bomb went off,” Keller said. “It was crazy. I don’t even know how he does it.” Although, The tall right field wall in Pittsburgh didn’t allow Cruz to trot around the diamond but what if the angle was a little better?

Hardest-hit batted balls tracked by Statcast (since 2015):

  1. Oneil Cruz: 122.4 mph, 8/24/22
  2. Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph, 8/9/21
  3. Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph, 10/1/17
  4. Giancarlo Stanton: 121.7 mph, 8/9/18
  5. Giancarlo Stanton: 121.3 mph, 7/25/20

“When I came into the dugout, some of my teammates shared with me that I hit it 122 [mph],” Oneil Cruz expressed. “I smiled, but deep down inside I was like, ‘Wow, I really hit that ball hard.’ Now, finding out that I broke a record, it means a lot to me. That’s something positive to take away from today’s game.”

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