ATLANTA -- Brewers pitcher Trevor Megill didn’t hesitate to say what he was most looking forward to during All-Star Week.
“Oneil Cruz hitting home runs,” he said. “That boy can mash a baseball, man. He’s impressive. One of the most impressive people I’ve ever seen hit a baseball.”
Truist Park quickly understood what Megill meant when Cruz announced his presence in the first round of the T-Mobile Home Run Derby with a 513-foot moonshot that landed just under the RaceTrac sign deep in the right-center-field concourse. That swing tied a record for the longest Home Run Derby homer (not at Coors Field) since Statcast began tracking in 2016, and immediately sent the packed house into a frenzy.
The three homers to travel farther than 513 feet all came at Coors Field in 2021: Juan Soto (520 feet), Trevor Story (518 feet) and Pete Alonso (514 feet). Shohei Ohtani also hit one 513 feet at Coors in '21. Cruz's blast tied Aaron Judge (2017 in Miami) for the longest hit below 5,280 feet.
Swing after swing, the crowd oohed and aahed with every laser that went flying off of Cruz’s Donkey Kong-themed bat. He finished the first round with 21 home runs, tying the Rays’ Junior Caminero for the most in the round. Five of his first-round blasts traveled at least 475 feet. His 10 total home runs of that distance set a new record for most in a non-Coors Derby.
“Who I am, what I’ve shown I can do in the game, that’s what showed out there tonight in BP,” Cruz said in Spanish. “That’s all I’ve wanted to do is hit home runs, and long home runs.”
In advancing to the semifinals as the top seed, Cruz, who was the seventh Pirate to participate in the Derby, became the first to make it out of the first round. He also broke the franchise record for most home runs in the Derby, surpassing Josh Bell’s mark of 18 homers in 2019.
As the Derby shifted into a bracket for the semifinal round, Cruz matched up against Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, who had hit 17 home runs in the first round.
Raleigh opened the semifinal matchup with 19 homers. As Raleigh hammered away deep fly after deep fly, Cruz had only one thing going through his mind.
“Get to 20,” he said. “Get to 20 and get to the next round.”
Cruz responded with a home run on four of his first swings, but couldn’t keep pace.
Heading into the bonus round, Cruz sat at 10 home runs. As he took a minute to catch his breath, Elly De La Cruz gave him some advice.
“Hit it to the middle,” De La Cruz told him. “That way you can make better contact and the balls won’t pull foul.”
Cruz fired off a 498-footer on his first swing in the bonus round. Down to his final out, he crushed two more to get to 13, but popped up on his final swing of the night.
Despite the loss, it was easy to see why Cruz’s Home Run Derby debut in Atlanta on Monday was so highly anticipated. He was one of the favorites heading into the night due to his bat speed and unreal exit velocity -- the hardest-hit ball of his career clocked in at 122.9 mph, the fastest recorded exit velo in the Statcast era, back on May 25.
Cruz’s hardest-hit home run on Monday registered at 119 mph. He hit nine homers at least 475 feet.
He had other players in his corner besides Megill, too. De La Cruz voiced his support for his fellow Dominican superstar during his media availability on Monday afternoon, and Tigers second baseman Gleyber Torres flat out said he expected Cruz to win.
“He’s incredible. He’s an athlete, he can do everything,” Torres said. “The power he has and how he hits the ball is really special. Especially in this stadium, since right field is a little shorter, I think that’s going to give him a little bit of an advantage.”
For Cruz, having the support of his family and friends -- especially friends from the Dominican Republic -- was as valuable to him as any trophy he could’ve won on Monday night.
“It meant a lot to me,” he said of the support. “I have a lot of friends here. There’s [Ketel Marte], who comes from where I come from. I get along well with [Fernando] Tatis [Jr.], Elly. And [Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is] here, too, who I basically grew up with.”