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Statblast Era

Oneil Cruz just hit a baseball harder than anyone else in the history of Earth … for a single

August 24, 2022

Human beings have been swinging bats at balls for a long time now. 146 years to be exact. We’ve seen every conceivable outcome. Singles, doubles, triples, dingers, dribblers, bloops, bunts, flares, double plays, triple plays, the cycle, the home-run cycle. You name it, it’s been done. Never before, however, have we seen a ball hit as hard as the one Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Oneil Curz absolutely seared on Wednesday afternoon. Don’t blink, you might miss it.

122.4 mph is a lot of miles per hour, eclipsing the previous exit-velo record set by Giancarlo Stanton by nearly a full mph. In other words, its the hardest hit baseball by a human being since we started keeping track of how hard human beings hit baseballs.

But Ironically enough, Cruz may have actually hit the ball too hard. Yes, this is a thing. Normally when you hit one off the wall, whether left, right, or center, you’re looking at an extra base hit. But Cruz's rocket shot got to the boundary so fast and on such a line that by the time it ricocheted back to Ronald Acuna Jr. (who also, it should be noted, also has a gun), Cruz was only able to reach first. Talk about an anti-climax. Talk about baseball.

Despite advancing the lead runner to third, the Pirates were unable to score in the inning, resigning Cruz’s record-breaking feat to something of a footnote. But for the next 12 hours or so, you’re going to see it over and again, with tracers and speedometers and laser sounds and all the other goodies. So enjoy the show, savor the milestone, and, whatever you do, keep your head on swivel.