Getty Oneil Cruz smacks a two-run double in the ninth inning to tie the game against the San Francisco Giants
A word to the wise: Don’t piss off Oneil Cruz.
After the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop dropped a pop-up in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants on May 21, leading to two Giants runs, he took his frustration out at the plate in historic fashion.
Cruz set two Statcast records in the Pirates’ come-from-behind 7-6 win on Monday, and neither was kind to poor, unassuming baseballs. He became the first Major League player in the Statcast era (2015-present) to record an exit velocity of 120 mph or greater in the same game and the first to have three balls leave his bat at 115 mph or more.
“I was really pissed off when I went to hit,” Cruz said through interpreter Stephen Morales, according to Alex Stumpf of MLB.com. “I think that’s part of why I hit it so hard.”
Oneil Cruz has the THREE hardest-hit balls of the night!
Two of them are the hardest-hit of the SEASON.
His teammate, Nick Gonzales, even expressed some jealousy in watching the ease with which Cruz, who is still just 25 years old, can tattoo a ball.
“Speechless,” he said. “Honestly, seeing that, I’ve never seen anything like that. I was saying it’s a little frustrating because of how he hits it so hard so easily. It’s amazing to watch.”
A Hot Start to the Game
Just minutes after Cruz’s blunder, he smacked a line drive to right field at 1204 mph, just pass the dive of Giants first baseman Wilmer Flores. Two innings later, it was a 116.3 mph double. Cruz didn’t come around to score on either instance, but he did raise the eyebrows of some stat-savvy observers.
Oneil Cruz’s 120.4 mph single came on a 84.5 mph swing
he entered the day with 18 swings this season at 84+ mph
only Giancarlo Stanton (24) had more…and nobody else had more than 9
Cruz and the Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton have littered their names across the Statcast leaderboard. Stanton is the only other player with multiple 120-plus mph hits. Ronald Acuna Jr., Aaron Judge, and Gary Sanchez are the only other players to ever hit an exit velocity of 120 mph or greater.
Cruz just happened to do it twice in the same game.
“I can try to do that same thing, but I mean, that’s probably like his butt-out swing. That’s my top velo,” Jared Triolo told reporters after the game.
After a lackluster start to the season, Cruz’s 3-5 effort against the Giants made him 17-53 with seven doubles and three home runs over his last 13 games.
Oneil Cruz Comes Up in the Clutch
Cruz’s hardest hit came in one of the game’s biggest moments.
With the Pirates down 6-2 in the bottom of the 9th, Cruz laced a game-tying double to right field. The hit’s exit velocity clocked in at 121.5 mph, which was the fifth hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs.
Hardest-hit batted balls under Statcast (2015):
8/24/22 Oneil Cruz: 122.4 mph
8/9/21 Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph
10/1/17 Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph
8/9/18 Giancarlo Stanton: 121.7 mph
Tuesday Oneil Cruz: 121.5 mph
That hit brought the Pirates’ win probability from 19.5% to 63%, per MLB.
Fittingly, Cruz also owns the hardest-hit ball ever (122.4 mph), which he recorded on August 24, 2022.
“He stayed locked in,” manager Derek Shelton added after the game, according to Stumpf. “We had a play in the first we should have made. I think if you ask Oneil, he’s going to tell you he should have made it. But the thing about it is I think we’re seeing Oneil continuing to get better, continue to mature, because he did not let it affect him the rest of the game. His at-bats continue to be good, they continue to be solid, and he ended up getting the big hit to tie it there.”