ONeil Cruz exit velocity record, explained: How Pirates slugger set statcast record with absurd hitting power

Major League Baseball is inundated with states. While every sport has its own set of analytics, it feels like baseball has a hot new metric that rises in popularity each season. 

This reliance on stats was taken to another level in baseball in 2015 when StatCast was released. This system helped revolutionize the quantifying of baseball action on the field. While many of these stats are still only referenced by the true baseball aficionados, some numbers have become must-knows for all fans. 

One of the most popular metrics on StatCast is exit velocity, or the speed at which the ball comes off the bat. Theoretically, the harder the ball is struck, the likelier that it will result in a hit, either by combining it with a good launch angle for a home run or by making it tougher for a defender to handle.

Pirates slugger Oneil Cruz set the exit velocity record in 2022. He held it for three years, but then in 2025 he beat his own record, setting a new mark for players to chase.  

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Here’s more on Cruz setting the exit velocity record in the StatCast era. 

Oneil Cruz exit velocity record

Cruz already held the exit velocity record. He set it in 2022, when he ripped a 122.4 mph single. That ball hit off the wall and went right to the right fielder, so Cruz couldn’t get anything more out of his record-breaking hit than a single base.

He broke his own record in 2025 with a monster 122.9-mph home run that went 432 feet.

Top exit velocities in StatCast Era

Here are the top exit velocities tracked by StatCast since its inception in 2016. 

Top exit velocities in StatCast Era by year

StatCast was first used in 2016. It has revolutionized how analytics are tracked in baseball. Ten years into the StatCast Era, here are the five hardest-hit balls in each year. All records taken from Baseball Savant. 

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

483 feet! 121 mph! @Giancarlo818 with a 💣. pic.twitter.com/REfWTeejGV

— MLB (@MLB) July 26, 2020

2021

Giancarlo Stanton hits the umpire with a 120.3 MPH single pic.twitter.com/JbDfVZkTwR

— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 16, 2021

2022

2023

121.2 MPH off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. and that’s just ridiculous! It’s THE hardest hit ball in the major leagues this year! 🚀pic.twitter.com/8Owj5z03xp

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 3, 2023

2024

All 3 of Oneil Cruz’ 116+ MPH hits from tonight

120.4
116.3
121.5 pic.twitter.com/LO8vEWU7K9

— Platinum Ke’Bryan (@PlatinumKey13) May 22, 2024

2025