Oneil Cruz hit the hardest hit ball of Statcast era, and it was only a single

Oneil Cruz feels destined to develop into one of many coolest gamers in baseball. Cruz is absurdly tall for a shortstop at 6’7. He has huge energy on the plate, and a brilliant sturdy arm within the infield. He hasn’t fairly lived as much as his prospect standing but in his first 50+ video games within the huge leagues, however anybody with eyes can see his immense upside.

With the Pirates taking part in the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, Cruz put his uncooked energy on show. Within the third inning, Cruz completely mashed a ball off Atlanta starter Kyle Wright that was measured with an exit velocity of 122.4 MPH — making it the toughest hit ball of the Statcast period, which began in 2015.

There was just one downside: the ball slammed off the outfield wall so onerous that Cruz didn’t have a lot time to run the bases. He solely acquired a single out of it. Watch the hit right here:

It’s too unhealthy that Cruz didn’t have sufficient of a launch angle to hit this one out of the park, as a result of it might have been a complete moon shot.

You will discover the record of the toughest hit balls of the Statcast period right here. All the factor is dominated by Giancarlo Stanton till now. Earlier than Wednesday, Stanton had 14 of the 16 hardest hit balls of the Statcast period. Now there’s a brand new exit velocity king with Cruz.

Amazingly, these high two Stanton exit velocities had been a single and a double play. Cruz shouldn’t really feel too unhealthy about solely getting a single out of it.

The Pirates are once more close to the basement of the Nationwide League. Gamers like Cruz are the one hope they’ve left. After all, Pirates followers are already apprehensive about his eventual departure years from now.

Take pleasure in Oneil Cruz when you can, Pittsburgh. Baseball gamers are not often this cool.