On the note of a losing streak and bottoming the table, Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz has managed to break a record and get listed in the record books. After playing in the Minor League for over six years, the shortstop made his big Major League break in 2021 for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

After playing only two games in the 2021 season, Cruz has played 52 games in 2022. In his short 54-game career, Cruz has hit 11 homers and has batted at a mere 0.204. Palpably, his numbers are underwhelming. However, as of last evening, he’s made his way to the record books by recording the hardest ever baseball hit.

Oneil Cruz hits the hardest shot in the MLB history

As the Pirates took on the Braves in the third innings of the game, Oneil Cruz smashed the baseball at 122.4 mph off the bat. Analogous to that, he broke Giancarlo Stanton‘s previous record of 122.2 mph. On an anti-climatic note, the shot resulted in only a single.

Despite the speed and intensity of the shot, because of the minimum launch angle, the ball did not cross the fence. Hence, a single. However, according to the trajectory and projections, the ball would’ve cleared at least 24 of the 30 MLB parks.

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Pirates fans were in awe of such strength and hand-eye coordination and took their pleasure and appreciation to Twitter.

The hardest hit ball got some praise from this user. He mentioned that “This man is special.”

One fan said, “Oneil Cruz needs to be a Yankee.“

What next for the Pittsburgh Pirates?

While Oneil Cruz’s name has gone down in the record books for the hardest hit shot, the Pirates faced an extremely humiliating 2-14 loss in the third and final series match. In addition to the loss, they also got clean swept 0-3 in the series against the Atlanta Braves, extending their losing match streak to 5.

Today, the Pirates are in the last position in the NL Central Division at 0.379. After making the wild card berth in 2013, 2014, and 2015, their performance has only gone downhill. Moreover, to their further disappointment, they have maintained a position in the bottom two of the Central division since 2017. Even this year, they don’t stand any chance to make it to the postseason.

Do you think the Pirates will succeed at coming back strong in 2023?

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