Perhaps a sign that 2025 was going to be a rough season for the Atlanta Braves is the fact that they didn’t hit the ball as hard as they had as a collective over the past few preceding seasons. Even in 2024
when they limped into the Postseason, the Braves were second in baseball for average exit velocity at 89.9 mph. They slipped into seventh place with an average exit velocity of 89.7 mph over the course of the 2025 season. It might not seem like a steep dropoff but it’s still a significant one for a team that has been used to sitting at the top of this particular metric.
With that being said, there were still some lasers that the Braves spread across the diamond this season and now it’s time to take a look at the Top 10 Highest Exit Velocities of 2025, according to Statcast.
No. 10 – Matt Olson, April 4 vs. Marlins, 113.4 mph Home Run, .999 xBA
This one fell nearly 20 feet short of making the cut for the Top 10 Longest Braves Home Runs of 2025 but it ended up making the cut for one of the hardest hit balls by a Braves player this season. Matt Olson was in full attack mode at this point with a 3-0 count against George Soriano. Soriano gave him a meatball and Olson made absolutely no mistake with it.
No. 9 – Matt Olson, May 4 vs. Dodgers, 113.5 mph Out, .831 xBA
This is the first of three outs on this list — sometimes you just need a reminder that this is a cruel sport. Exit Velocity is still very important but at the end of the day this is a sport where failure is the norm. Sometimes you can hit a ball right on the screws and there’s just going to be a defender with a glove waiting to collect that ball. That was the case for Matt Olson here, as he hit a screamer that Enrique Hernández was able to snag out of the air before it hit the ground.
No. 8 – Ronald Acuña Jr., July 20 vs. Yankees, 113.7 mph Home Run, .994 xBA
Unlike Olson’s homer earlier, this moonshot from Ronald Acuña Jr. also made the Longest Home Runs list. Devin Williams had a bit of an issue with giving up some higher Exit Velo than he usually gives up. This was not just the hardest ball that he had hit against him during this season, it was the hardest that he’s been hit in his entire career — by over two mph, at that!
No. 7 – Matt Olson, April 23 vs. Cardinals, 113.8 mph Out, .851 xBA
Matt Olson has already made three appearances on this list and two of them are outs. Once again, this was just a case of defender being in the right place at the right time, as Jordan Walker barely had to move in order to bring in this laser for an out. At least it was a productive one that helped move the runner over?
No. 6 – Austin Riley, July 28 at Royals, 113.9 mph Double, .780 xBA
Not only did this massive double break a game wide open in Atlanta’s favor in Kansas City, it also landed Austin Riley on this prestigious list of rocket shots. Even though Riley put an absolute wallop on this one, the 113.9 mph EV is actually nearly 3 mph lower than his career high of 116.1, which he recorded back in the good ol’ days of 2023. Still, we aren’t going to complain about a rocket off of the bat of Austin Riley at any point in 2025 and hopefully we’ll see more of it on a more consistent basis in 2026.
No. 5 – Matt Olson, August 12 at Mets, 114 mph Double, .851 xBA
Olson’s fourth entry onto this is, fortunately, a base hit. It’s a base hit against the Mets, no less, so we will gladly take any of those. Perhaps if Juan Soto got a better jump and took a better route to the ball (basically if he was a better defender), this could’ve been another hard luck moment for Olson. Instead, the batted ball cleared Soto’s glove and the Braves had something going early in this one.
No. 4 – Michael Harris II, August 17 at Guardians, 114.1 mph Out, .474 xBA
The good news is that this’ll be the last out that you’ll see on this particular list. Michael Harris II absolutely stung this one but it’s also one of those ground balls that you can’t get too mad. Cleveland had their infield in perfect position to where Gabriel Arias was there to make the routine play and throw to first. Incidentally, this is the same game where Jurickson Profar won the illustrious-and-world renowned “Short Boy Award” for the shortest home run that actually cleared the fence for the Braves in 2025. Again, baseball is a cruel game.
No. 3 – Sean Murphy, June 28 vs. Phillies, 114.4 mph Home Run, .999 xBA
Sean Murphy must’ve had an extra portion of Wheaties the morning before each game of this series because he was tearing the cover off of the ball on this particular weekend. This was the biggest and hardest swat of them all, as he hit a clear no-doubter deep and far out of reach of any Phillies glove for a Grand Slam that broke the game wide open for the Braves. Also, shout-out to the Phillies fan who was super excited to catch a home run hit by a Braves player. You’re alright with me, kid.
No. 2 – Ronald Acuña Jr., August 26 at Marlins, 115.1 mph Single, .754 xBA
Ronald Acuña Jr. took the top two spots in the Longest Home Run category and here’s a spoiler for you: He’s taking the top two spots in this one as well. The Silver Medal entry was just an absolute flamethrower right up the middle for a base hit. This time, the opposing team didn’t have it played perfectly and the batted ball nearly took Marlins pitcher Tyler Phillips with it on its way to the outfield. This one was absolutely scorched and it’s proof that sometimes singles can be really fun to watch.
No. 1 – Ronald Acuña Jr., May 23 vs. Padres, 115.5 mph Home Run, .994 xBA
Can you tell that Acuña was amped up to return to the team? This was almost as if he was releasing months of frustration upon a baseball, as Acuña’s first swing of the 2025 regular season ended up being his mightiest swat of the season. This was also the 27th-hardest hit ball of 2025 by anybody in the big leagues as well, meaning that you could stack this up against some of the hardest hit balls of this past season and it wouldn’t look out of character compared to all of the other laser beams. It’s what we’ve all come to expect of Ronald Acuña Jr. at this point in his career.
BONUS – Lowest Exit Velocity for a (Non-Bunt) Base Hit: Jurickson Profar, August 5 vs. Brewers, 34.8 mph Single, .266 xBA
That’ll do it for the highest exit velocities by Braves hitters this season. Which one of these did you enjoy watching the most? Let us know!
