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Oneil Cruz 122.4 mph single

The exit velocity Cruz broke. MLB, Guinness and ESPN all print 122.4 mph on 24 August 2022.

Also known as Cruz 122.4

Ball speed

Published as 122.4 mphPublished as 122.4 mphPublished as 122.4 mph

Previous hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era. Oneil Cruz single, 24 August 2022. MLB's game story says the ball was driven off the outfield wall in Pittsburgh. Guinness says it was against the Atlanta Braves.

OfficialGuinness World Records (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 1.9× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 1.7 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 28 h 17 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

Mechanism

Why it's so fast

Oneil Cruz 122.4 mph single's exit velocity is how fast the ball left the bat on that swing. It is bat speed and a square contact. It is not the pitch speed on the way in.

  1. Contact

    The barrel has to be moving quickly and on the plane of the ball. A few millimetres decide a hard line drive from a popup.

  2. The tracked hit

    The figure is the tracked speed off the bat for the swing the sources name. A different system or a different day is not averaged in.

Nearby on this list: Oneil Cruz 122.9 mph home run.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 197km/h122.4mph54.7m/s106knRanked figure

    Previous hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era. Oneil Cruz single, 24 August 2022. MLB's game story says the ball was driven off the outfield wall in Pittsburgh. Guinness says it was against the Atlanta Braves.

    MLB's story of the 122.9 mph home run prints the previous ball as 122.4 mph on Aug. 24, 2022. ESPN prints a 122.4 mph single on Aug. 24, 2022.

    Official

Reference

Specs

Batter
Oneil Cruz
Scope
Previous Statcast exit-velocity record
Speed
122.4 mph
Date
24 August 2022

Context

Background

Guinness says the 122.9 mph home run broke Cruz's own record, a 122.4 mph single on 24 August 2022. MLB's story of the later home run prints that previous ball as 122.4 mph on 24 August 2022, off the outfield wall in Pittsburgh. ESPN prints the previous hardest-hit ball as a 122.4 mph single on 24 August 2022.

The row is that batted ball, kept so the list shows the mark and the mark it replaced. It is not the 25 May 2025 home run. Pitch speed stays on the pitch list.

Spot a wrong number?

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