PITTSBURGH — In the end it'll go down as a third-inning single, but anyone who saw it will remember it differently.
In Wednesday's game against the Atlanta Braves, Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz stepped up against Braves right-hander Kyle Wright and got a first-pitch slider over the heart of the plate. Many hitters punish hanging breaking balls. None have ever done it with quite the ferocity of Cruz.
He crushed it on a line drive to right. If Roberto Clemente had worn the No. 17, it would have been gone, since the right-field wall at PNC Park is 21 feet tall to honor Clemente. With that, the ball smacked against the top of that wall, and Cruz was held to an impressive single.
Perhaps it's a good thing it didn't reach the stands, or it might have hurt a fan, because the exit velocity on Cruz's single was 122.4 mph. That makes it the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era, dating back to 2015. The previous record belonged to Giancarlo Stanton, then a member of the Miami Marlins. That was a 122.2-mph single. Coincidentally it also came against the Braves. Stanton hit another ball 122.2 mph, but it was a grounder into a double play.
This adds to the impressive Statcast numbers Cruz has already put up in his rookie season with the Pirates. Already this season, he had the highest velocity on an infield assist in the Statcast era and the hardest-hit ball by any Pirate in the Statcast era. He's also impressed with his foot speed, reaching elite 30-plus feet-per-second sprint speeds on a fairly regular basis.
More than anything, it's another reminder of the type of talent Cruz possesses. Even if he's hitting around the Mendoza line and has struggled in recent weeks, he does things that no other Pirates are capable of doing.
In fact, Wednesday, he did something that no other MLB player has done in at least the last seven seasons.
