Pirates star Oneil Cruz breaks Statcast exit velocity record with a 122.9-mph home run

Adam Frazier was watching video of his at-bat in the Pittsburgh Pirates dugout when he heard the crack of Oneil Cruz’s bat, just in time to look up and see the ball clear the right-field stands at PNC Park and reach the Allegheny River on a bounce.

“I’m just glad that ball got over the fence and didn’t hit somebody because that could have been bad,” Frazier said. “You might see something special any time he steps in the box.”

This time, it was something record-setting.

Cruz crushed the hardest hit in recorded baseball history, sending Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson’s first-pitch fastball 432 feet for a solo home run with a 122.9 mph exit velocity to lead off the third inning of a 6-5 loss Sunday afternoon.

“It feels good,” Cruz said through Pirates coach/interpreter Stephen Morales. “I was looking for a good pitch to hit, and I connected really well. It feels even better to know it’s the hardest hit ball in the history of Statcast.”

It broke Cruz’s previous exit velocity record since Statcast began tracking the statistic in 2015, a 122.4 mph single off the top of the Clemente Wall against the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 24, 2022. That bettered the mark of 122.2 mph, set by Giancarlo Stanton of the New York Yankees in 2017 and matched by Stanton in 2021.

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

Cruz admitted he’s concerned his hard-hit balls can be dangerous, especially the explosiveness of his latest bomb.

“I was kind of worried off the bat,” Cruz said, “that it would hit somebody and hurt somebody.”

The 6-foot-7, 240-pound Cruz now owns the hardest hit in three different seasons, as he also had the highest exit velocity on a hit last season: a 121.5 mph double against the San Francisco Giants on May 24, 2024 at PNC Park. Cruz also had a double with a 120.4 mph exit velocity in that game.

The homer was the 11th of the season for Cruz, who hit two that were clocked at 117.9 mph and 113.4 mph, respectively, in Friday’s 6-5 win over the Brewers. Cruz had the winning RBI on a triple clocked at 114.3 mph in Saturday’s 2-1 win.

“When he’s on, he’s on,” Pirates pitcher Bailey Falter said. “It’s fun and impressive to watch.”

Since PNC Park opened in 2001, 51 different players have hit a combined 83 home runs into the Allegheny River. It was the sixth time Cruz has done so, but the first time he had a hit with an exit velocity of 120 mph or higher that cleared the fence.

“Simply, it just went out,” Cruz said. “It doesn’t matter how hard the ball was hit, I just go out to make good contact. Sometimes, I don’t even try to make the hardest contact. Just trying to get the ball in play. But the reason behind my at-bats is just to put good contact on the ball. Whatever happens, it happens.”

During the four-game series with the Brewers, Cruz batted .375 (6 for 16) with a double, a triple, three home runs, two walks, five RBIs and five runs scored. Per Elias Sports Bureau, he’s only the fifth Pirates player to post such statistics or better in a series, joining Brian Giles (2002), Turner Ward (1997), Ralph Kiner (1950) and Adam Comorosky (1930).

“It feels good as a player, just being able to do that,” Cruz said. “But it’s just about the focus and the work that I’ve been putting in lately. It’s the main key. But it always feels good as a player just to be able to do that in one series.”

Pirates manager Don Kelly said Cruz has been playing like a superstar, one who is tapping into his record-breaking power potential.

“That thing was flying,” Kelly said. “I can’t say enough about him, how he played and how he’s been playing, especially this series with the home runs, the triple, he made a heck of a play in right-center, too. It looked like a tough play. He’s doing great things.”