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Oneil Cruz feels destined to change into one of many coolest gamers in baseball. Cruz is absurdly tall for a shortstop at 6’7. He has large energy on the plate, and a brilliant robust arm within the infield. He hasn’t fairly lived as much as his prospect standing but in his first 50+ video games within the massive 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 arduous that Cruz didn’t have a lot time to run the bases. He solely bought 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 could have been a complete moon shot.
You could find the checklist of the toughest hit balls of the Statcast period right here. Your entire 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.
Hardest-hit batted balls tracked by Statcast (since 2015):
Oneil Cruz: 122.4 mph, immediately
Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph, 8/9/21
Giancarlo Stanton: 122.2 mph, 10/1/17
Giancarlo Stanton: 121.7 mph, 8/9/18
Giancarlo Stanton: 121.3 mph, 7/25/20— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 24, 2022
Amazingly, these prime two Stanton exit velocities have 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 whilst you can, Pittsburgh. Baseball gamers are not often this cool.
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