St. Louis Cardinals: Tyler O’Neill digs the long ball

Once again, I find myself needing to write about the amazing power exploits of Tyler O’Neill. Much like the baseball when he connects, the impressive power ability of the St. Louis Cardinals young outfielder just keeps going.

Not to long ago, I was writing about Tyler O’Neill’s bat carrying him to some fairly impressive ranks in St. Louis Cardinals homerun hitting history. Today, it is one bomb in particular that inspires another extermination of his hitting abilities.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, O’Neill connected with a 3-0 pitch. Thank goodness he had the green light. Nick Burdi was on the mound for the Pirates, and he might have gotten a case of whiplash after the Cardinals rookie hit the ball 457 feet to left-center field.

Statcast Breakdown

Since Statcast began measuring  in 2015, this is the longest bomb at Busch Stadium. It had an exit velocity of 113 feet, a launch angle of 22.5 degrees, and it was an absolute tank of a homerun. It is the third longest bomb by a St. Louis Cardinals slugger this year, trailing Paul DeJong(464 ft) and Marcell Ozuna(479 ft), who both hit theirs back in April.

Even though he only has 56 events listed, he sits tied with Yoenis Cespedes and Roberto Perez for 34th in the league for average exit velocity this season at 92.2 MPH.

Prospect Power Prowess

We know that he has a ton of power. MLB Pipeline gave him plus power all through his time in the farm prior to graduating from prospect status. Between Memphis and St. Louis, O’Neill now has 34 homers in 2018.

That is a new season high mark for any season, and it has been against the highest competition. He’s played 110 games in 2018, which is not his season high. O’Neill seems to be honing in that raw power of his.

O’Neill is another young St. Louis Cardinals player to be excited about. If he can continue to develop into a true, and consistent, power threat, then Mike Schildt will have some easy decisions to make when filling out the middle of his lineup card game in and game out.