HOUSTON — Houston Astros star Yordan Alvarez and New York Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are a Statcast dream.
The trio have combined for insane exit velocities throughout their careers, and have a highlight reel of home runs that give pitchers nightmares.
Yet the hardest-hit baseball in history belongs to neither of them. It was actually hit by Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz, who hit a 122.4 mph single in August.
The ball was nearly 3 mph faster than the record at the time, which belonged to Stanton. It was hit so hard that it bounced off the outfield wall directly to Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna, which limited Cruz to a single.
If you're looking for the long ball and include the postseason, Stanton and Judge have combined for 13 of the 16 hardest-hit home runs in Statcast history.
Stanton hit a 121.7 mph home run in 2018 against the Texas Rangers, which remains the hardest-hit home run to this day. He also managed a 121.3 mph home run against the Washington Nationals in 2020.
Not to be outdone, Judge hit a 121.1 mph home run against the Orioles in 2017 when he was a rookie. It was the hardest-hit home run ever at the time.
Meanwhile, while Alvarez may not be in any of those record books, the Cuban slugger had the second-highest exit velocity in the majors for 2022. Alvarez had an average exit velocity on batted balls of 95.2 mph, just 0.7 mph behind Judge this season. His hardest-hit ball was 117.4 mph against the Chicago White Sox in June.
