Oneil Cruz sets new record for hardest-hit ball

[Dolores]

26-year old Dominican Pittsburgh shortstop Oneil Cruz has set a new record for the hardest-hit ball ever tracked by Statcast. He drove the ball 122.9 mph in Pittsburgh’s 6-5 series finale loss to the Brewers at the PNC Park. As reported by MLB, Cruz’s ball cleared the right-field wall with ease, traveling a projected 432 feet, and one-hopped into the Allegheny River, all by the time Cruz even left the batter’s box.

“It feels good. I was looking for a good pitch to hit and I connected really well,” Cruz said, through his interpreter and assistant coach Stephen Morales. “It feels even better just to know that it’s the hardest-hit ball in the history of Statcast.”

The blast was Cruz’s 11th of the season and marked the 83rd home run in the history of PNC Park (since its debut season in 2001) to reach the water, and was the sixth time in his career he’s done so.

Cruz broke his own record...

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[JD Jones]

I can do that.

 

[Joseph NY2STI]

Babe Ruth swallowed hot dogs faster than that!

 

[chico bill]

Mickey Mantle didn't have Statcast or juiced balls and hit one 500 feet. Pretty sure Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco hit it harder and Yaz too

Statcast around only the last 10 years.
They are making up all kinds of silly new records. Everyone gets a trophy

 

[SKY]

No one to this day EVER hit a home run OUT of Yankee Stadium. Mantle came closest .............It would have traveled over 500 feet for sure...........

 

[Tom0910]

distance hit and ball speed off the bat are two entirely different things. 122mph off the bat is insane.

 

[SKY]

distance hit and ball speed off the bat are two entirely different things. 122mph off the bat is insane.

I don't really agree with that. The ball Mantle hit would have been a lot farther so are you saying the speed was less? Speed off the bat will produce the distance, nothing else will...........There was no measuring speed in those days, only distance.............

 

[chico bill]

distance hit and ball speed off the bat are two entirely different things. 122mph off the bat is insane.

Yes it depends on a lot of factors including launch angle, atmosphere, elevation above sea level, mass of the ball, wind factors, but certainly initial velocity is a major component, so ball speed is a part of the actual equation

 

[SKY]

Yes it depends on a lot of factors including launch angle, atmosphere, elevation above sea level, mass of the ball, wind factors, but certainly initial velocity is a major component, so ball speed is a part of the actual equation

Mantle himself stated that he never hit a ball that hard as the one we are talking about..........

 

[CristoRey]

A ball traveling at this speed could easily kill someone.
When they say this younger hitter is a real threat on the field,
they mean it.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Oneil Cruz is eligible to become a free agent after the 2028 season. He is currently in his final year of pre-arbitration, meaning he won't be able to reach free agency until after the 2028 season.

Hope he can last that long with the Pirates.

 

[windeguy]

Taking nothing away from Oneils hardest hit measured.

Mickey Mantle hit a 565-foot bomb he hit at Griffith Stadium in 1953
I susepect he was faster and a better fielder, but then I don't watch National League games at all.

 

[BermudaRum]

Yes it depends on a lot of factors including launch angle, atmosphere, elevation above sea level, mass of the ball, wind factors, but certainly initial velocity is a major component, so ball speed is a part of the actual equation

Now I now why I can only hit my driver 240 yards downwind. 😭

 

[JD Jones]

Now I now why I can only hit my driver 240 yards downwind. 😭

Yards?? You mean feet, don't you? I only hit about 240 feet too.

 

[chico bill]

Yards?? You mean feet, don't you? I only hit about 240 feet too.

Then I want to play skins with you ! You can even hit from the ladies tees.

Foor for thought : If men transition and get into women's golf will they still get teased if they hit from the women's tees ?

 

[BermudaRum]

Yards?? You mean feet, don't you? I only hit about 240 feet too.

I take it your game is about how you arrive, and not how you drive

 

[JD Jones]

I take it your game is about how you arrive, and not how you drive

You got that right!! LOL