There are hard hit baseballs, then there are Oneil Cruz's hard hit baseballs. The Pirates young star has a knack for hitting the ball extremely hard, and his latest rocket line drive nearly took Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies' glove clean off...if not more.
Cruz was the first batter Atlanta Braves starter Bryce Elder faced this evening, and the 91 mph sinker he chose to throw was promptly laced 117.6 mph off the bat of Oneil Cruz. The ball was coming at him so fast that Ozzie took one step to his right, then immediately had to duck for cover before the baseball put him in the hospital.
Thankfully, Ozzie got a glove on the ball to slow it down a hair, but the ball was hit so hard Ozzie's glove had no chance at stopping it completely. One can assume Albies is breathing a sigh of relief for avoiding serious injury on this line drive rocket.
Ozzie Albies apparently would make a great dodgeball player
Dodge, duck, dive, dip, and dodge, Albies clearly knows his five D's of dodgeball. Whether it was dodgeball knowledge, or natural instinct to get out of the way of a 118 mph baseball let's be thankful Ozzie made the right choice in this quick thinking scenario.
The Braves had a late night celebrating a walk-off win, so their arrival in Pittsburgh was a later one. Having an 118 mph baseball hit at you will certainly wake you up. Of course, Oneil Cruz is no stranger to obliterating baseballs as he ranks in the 100th percentile in average exit velocity (96.1 mph according to Statcast).
Cruz has some of the most impressive tools in MLB, so the Braves pitching staff keeping him in check will be a big point of emphasis for winning this series against the Pirates. Hopefully, that ends up being the hardest hit ball of the series for Cruz and the Braves find a way to induce some much weaker contact.