WATCH: Oneil Cruz Breaks Record for Hardest Hit Ball on Home Run Laser
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz hits the ball as hard as anyone, but even he upped his game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon.
In the bottom of the third inning, Cruz hammered a solo home run off Brewers rookie starter Logan Henderson. The blast traveled 432 feet and had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph — the hardest hit ball of the Statcast era.
Oneil Cruz just hit this ball 122.9 mph.
That is the hardest hit ball in the Statcast era. pic.twitter.com/dZYilTHie1
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) May 25, 2025
The blast was Cruz’s team-leading 11th home run of the season and got the Pirates on the board after falling behind 3-0 early.
The ball bounced into the Allegheny River beyond the concourse behind the 21-foot high right field wall at PNC Park. It was the 83rd time a ball reached the river since the ballpark opened in 2001 and the sixth time Cruz put a ball there.
Cruz entered Sunday’s game as the MLB leader in exit velocity with an average of 97.0 mph, ahead of the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (96.1) and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (95.4).
His hardest hit ball of the season entering play was 119.6 mph, which was second behind the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit a ball 120.4 mph earlier in the year.
Cruz’s previous career-high exit velocity was also the record before his latest home run. In 2022, he hit a ball 122.4 mph.
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