Oneil Cruz ends big year in Pittsburgh

When a team is in rebuilding mode, there are going to be plenty of opportunities for prospects to get up to the big leagues and show what they can do, even if it’s for a brief time. There were few, if any, who thought at this point that Oneil Cruz would be one of them in Pittsburgh. Not the last weekend of the season, not after the No. 52 overall prospect, who hadn’t played above Double-A before a week and a half ago, missed nearly two months with a forearm strain.

But the soon-to-be 23-year old came back from his injury and hit .333 in 24 August at-bats with Double-A Altoona. Then he slugged .585 in 53 more September at-bats, and thanks to the peculiarities of this Minor League season with the Triple-A’s Final Stretch, he was able to move up a level and get his feet wet with Indianapolis for the first time. He promptly went a ridiculous 11-for-21 with five homers in six games, homering in four straight en route to a .524/.655/1.286 line in 29 plate appearances.

That could’ve been more than enough of a high note for him to end on, but the Pirates decided to give him the call up to the big leagues to close the 2021 season out. And given how hot he’d been, it was only moderately disappointing he didn’t homer in his first at-bat. The drum beating for Cruz to get called up got louder with each Triple-A homer, but rest assured that wasn’t the only reason he was in the lineup against the Reds on Saturday night.

“He’s not here only because of the handful of games he played in Triple-A,” Pirates assistant general manager Steve Sanders said. “It certainly was another data point. It was an encouraging and exciting data point and was a carry-over from a strong performance all year.

“He’s here because of the work he put in at the alt site last year, at Spring Training, in Altoona and in Indianapolis. It’s a combination of all of that leading to this point in time. We were certainly paying attention, but there was nothing about those six games being any more important than other games he had played this year.”

There has never been any question about Cruz’s raw ability on the field. He grew several inches after the Dodgers signed him back in 2015 for $950,000 and he was only 18 and in the middle of his full-season debut when he was sent to the Pirates in the Tony Watson deal at the 2017 Trade Deadline. He repeated Low-A in 2018 and showed some glimpses, hitting 14 homers at age 19. And anyone who has seen him take batting practice can attest to how absurd his left-handed raw power is. It was just a matter of tapping into it consistently.

He did that at times in 2019, getting bumped from High-A to Double-A despite missing time with a fractured foot. Then he really struggled in the Arizona Fall League, finishing with a .520 OPS in 42 at-bats. Beyond the numbers, Cruz, then 20, looked disinterested during his AFL stint.

It’s a label, right or wrong, that evaluators have saddled Cruz with at times throughout his young career. A lack of focus and effort cropped up here and there and a player can only go so far on raw talent alone. Last year at the alternate site, this spring and throughout this year, the Pirates challenged Cruz to match his tools with his effort. He’s clearly responded.

"Obviously, the performance stands out, really wire-to-wire this year when he’s been healthy,” Sanders said. “So much attention was paid to the last handful of games, but he’s been a consistent performer all year on both sides of the ball. Then there are the things that aren’t as visible to those outside of the organization. That’s the focus and intent he displayed on both sides of the ball, being a really good teammate. Oneil stepped up to the challenge and took accountability for making improvements.

“It’s a testament to him and all of the coaches in Double- and Triple-A. We saw now as the right time to get his feet wet. It seemed like the right time to get him here and get him his first taste.”

Getting this two-game appetizer should make Cruz want to have a permanent seat at the table, and there’s no question the Pirates hope it serves as even more motivation to continue the work that prompted this somewhat surprising callup and carryover to 2022.

“Every player who comes up has the goal of staying,” Sanders said. “What next year holds, we don’t know. He’s going to have the opportunity to get acclimated, being around his teammates and the staff, get those first big league plate appearances under his belt and head into the offseason and continue to put in the work that got him here. No doubt he’ll take it and we’ll be excited to see where he’s at next spring.”

But will it be at shortstop? Cruz became the tallest player to start at the position in American and National League history and everyone has always assumed it would be when, not if, the 6-foot-7 Cruz would be shifted to the outfield, where his elite-level arm and speed would play quite well. For a time, it seemed like the Pirates kept Cruz on the dirt to help him stay focused from game to game. What his future holds remains to be seen, but if this year has proven anything, it’s that anything is possible when it comes to this immensely talented prospect.

“He’s out there tonight; that should certainly embody a level of confidence we have in Oneil in general,” Sanders said. “He’s proved a lot of people wrong to this point. We’ll continue to challenge him to get better. We don’t want to place any limits on him. He’s incredibly talented on both sides of the ball, including defensively. We don’t think what we’re seeing now is the best we’re going to see.”