Larry Brown Sports

Brown Bag it, Baby

Fans react to Oneil Cruz’s 513-foot blast at Home Run Derby

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Oneil Cruz swinging a bat

Oneil Cruz did his best Norse god impression during Monday’s Home Run Derby.

The Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Cruz stole the show in the first round on Monday at Truist Park in Atlanta, Ga. Cruz racked up 21 home runs in the round overall, including a ridiculous moonshot that traveled a staggering 513 feet. The ball ended up going past the seats in right-center and had an estimated exit velocity of 118 mph.

Here is a closer angle of Cruz’s missle.

Fans went into a frenzy over the 26-year-old’s feat of strength. Take a look at some of the best reactions, including from some of the fellow MLB stars who were at Truist Field.

Cruz’s bomb was the longest ball ever hit at Truist Field, smashing the record set by Ronald Acuna Jr’s 495-foot homer in Sept. 2020 (though that one was obviously at full-speed in a real game). Meanwhile, 513 feet put Cruz right up there near the longest estimated blast in Home Run Derby history (Sammy Sosa’s 524-foot shot at Miller Park in 2002) as well as the longest confirmed blast (by Statcast) in Home Run Derby history (Juan Soto’s 520-foot jack at Coors Field in 2021).

The lefty-hitting Cruz can be a bit inconsistent at the plate and is batting a rough .212 this season, though with 16 home runs and 37 RBIs for a respectable .733 OPS. But when Cruz does get ahold of a ball, it can sometimes set records (as we have seen during Pirates games as well).

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