Oneil Cruz crushes hardest-hit ball possibly ever (122.4 MPH)

[jabba72]

https://www.mlb.com/news/oneil-cruz-hardest-hit-ball-tracked-by-statcast-by-highest-exit-velocity

It was a single off the RF wall. Not very high off the wall from the looks of it. But still hardest hit ball possibly ever. The above link takes you to an HD vid of it. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

https://www.mlb.com/news/oneil-cruz-hardest-hit-ball-tracked-by-statcast-by-highest-exit-velocity

It was a single off the RF wall. Not very high off the wall from the looks of it. But still hardest hit ball possibly ever. The above link takes you to an HD vid of it. 

For a while the hardest hit ball was a GIDP by Stanton.

Cruz is great, baseball needs more high caliber athletes like him.

[jdwilde1]

20 hours ago, jabba72 said:

But still hardest hit ball possibly ever.

Well, since 2015.

[yark14]

1 hour ago, jdwilde1 said:

Well, since 2015.

Makes me wonder what speed Ruth and Mantle would have measured.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, yark14 said:

Makes me wonder what speed Ruth and Mantle would have measured.

Less.

Athletes improve over time.  This is most easily seen in track and field.

[jdwilde1]

1 hour ago, yark14 said:

Makes me wonder what speed Ruth and Mantle would have measured.

Would be cool to know.  My thoughts were more along the lines of somebody like Mark McGuire and some of the other mashers of the steroid era.

[Hallas]

On 8/25/2022 at 1:58 PM, Can_of_corn said:

Less.

Athletes improve over time.  This is most easily seen in track and field.

I actually think this is really difficult to answer, especially if you buy the 575-611 foot home run claims.  Even if you don't, the number of home runs he hit that were independently reported as over 500 feet is pretty staggering, considering there have been like 3 home runs hit in the statcast era that have exceeded 500 feet.  I think that pitching improvements have coincided with hitting improvements and equipment changes etc.   Ruth would not have swung a 54 oz, 38 inch long bat, for example.  So if Ruth played today, using a 36 inch 33 oz bat or something similar, he would probably not be hitting the ball 550 feet.

[ShoelesJoe]

Ball was crushed, but my main takeaway is that he stood in the box watching it rather than hustling to make extra bases. The launch angle was so low that even hit that hard there was zero chance the ball would clear the RF wall. Given that the ball was fielded cleanly off the wall, and immediately thrown to second base I doubt even Mateo would have had the speed to get a double out of it. But Cruz didn’t give himself even the slimmest chance of anything but a single, even if the fielder had misplayed it. 
 

Reminds me of the time Sammy Sosa scorched a line drive off the LCF fence at Camden Yards. He stood and watched as if it was going to land in the visitors bullpen. When it instead left a dent in the wall he then started running, and was thrown out at second by fifteen feet. 

[jdwilde1]

8 hours ago, Hallas said:

I actually think this is really difficult to answer, especially if you buy the 575-611 foot home run claims.  Even if you don't, the number of home runs he hit that were independently reported as over 500 feet is pretty staggering, considering there have been like 3 home runs hit in the statcast era that have exceeded 500 feet.  I think that pitching improvements have coincided with hitting improvements and equipment changes etc.   Ruth would not have swung a 54 oz, 38 inch long bat, for example.  So if Ruth played today, using a 36 inch 33 oz bat or something similar, he would probably not be hitting the ball 550 feet.

I believe that the 500+ foot estimates were not just air distance.  So, if Babe Ruth hit a ball out of Tigers stadium, the estimate for distance was where it stopped rolling. Also, we do not know what the ball’s properties were (i.e.  juiced balls). With that said, some old-timers definitely hit some moonshots.  Heck, old Yankee Stadium was 490 feet to left-center.  And there are records of Ruth clearing that the 490 to Left-center at least once.  

[CharmCityHokie]

6 hours ago, jdwilde1 said:

I believe that the 500+ foot estimates were not just air distance.  So, if Babe Ruth hit a ball out of Tigers stadium, the estimate for distance was where it stopped rolling. Also, we do not know what the ball’s properties were (i.e.  juiced balls). With that said, some old-timers definitely hit some moonshots.  Heck, old Yankee Stadium was 490 feet to left-center.  And there are records of Ruth clearing that the 490 to Left-center at least once.  

I feel as if I recall reading something about this as well, in terms of measurement of HR distance, but I didn't know that about old Yankee Stadium/Ruth. Thanks!

[Hallas]

7 hours ago, jdwilde1 said:

I believe that the 500+ foot estimates were not just air distance.  So, if Babe Ruth hit a ball out of Tigers stadium, the estimate for distance was where it stopped rolling. Also, we do not know what the ball’s properties were (i.e.  juiced balls). With that said, some old-timers definitely hit some moonshots.  Heck, old Yankee Stadium was 490 feet to left-center.  And there are records of Ruth clearing that the 490 to Left-center at least once.  

500 feet in the air is fairly plausible and I have no doubt that Ruth hit this mark fairly consistently.  I don't think he'd do it against modern pitching, because he wouldn't hit major league pitching with the bat he used, and he'd have to use at most a 36 or 37 inch bat that is significantly lighter than the bat he used.

Edited September 2, 2022 by Hallas

[Can_of_corn]

This seems like a good spot to put this.

Oneil Cruz has enough at bats to qualify for Statcast.

It's a bit of a mixed bag. 

[CharmCityHokie]

13 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

This seems like a good spot to put this.

Oneil Cruz has enough at bats to qualify for Statcast.

It's a bit of a mixed bag. 

All or Nothing!

Wow, that's quite the spread.