Cruz dropping jaws again with spring power show

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- It was just another eyebrow-raising, jaw-dropping Monday afternoon in the Grapefruit League for Oneil Cruz, the Pirates' phenom shortstop.

Cruz had two monster home runs -- about 822 feet worth, long enough combined to possibly disturb motorists along the busy thoroughfare of U.S. 19 beyond right field at BayCare Ballpark -- in an 11-2 victory against the Phillies.

All told, Cruz was 3-for-4 with six RBIs in five innings. He has seven homers -- including his Statcast-projected 419-foot three-run shot in the third and a 403-foot blast in the fifth -- to tie Baltimore’s Kyle Stowers for the MLB Spring Training lead.

It was continued encouragement for Cruz, the 6-foot-7, 210-pound sparkplug. He was limited to nine games last season after fracturing his left fibula during a home-plate slide on April 10, and he couldn’t follow up on his breakthrough 2022 season, in which he had 17 home runs and the hardest-hit ball since Statcast began tracking in 2015 (122.4 mph).

Monday’s performance was a flashback to those moments.

Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez had his first homer of the spring -- a Statcast-projected 418-foot bomb that sailed past the right-field foul pole -- but even that prodigious moment took second fiddle.

“I don’t have the vocabulary to describe him [Cruz],’’ Tellez said. “It’s impressive. It really is. I’ve been on the other side of it [with an opposing team] for the past year, so it’s nice to be on this side of it, watch it and actually clap instead of being upset we threw that pitch to him.

“He’s going to be a generational player. He’s an elite player, and he’s one of the best to run out there every day at the six [shortstop] position. We have a lot to look forward to.’’

Left-hander Martín Pérez, the former Rangers left-hander who signed as a free agent in January, continued his brilliant spring by allowing two unearned runs on five hits and two walks over five innings with eight strikeouts. That lowered Pérez's ERA to 0.75 in three outings.

But after dissecting his stellar pitching effort, even Pérez paid proper homage to Cruz’s afternoon.

“You don’t know how much power he has,’’ Pérez said. “Impressive. He’s getting better. Mentally, he’s better. He’s preparing for the game and listening a little bit more.

“From my side, I’m going to help him a lot, especially on the mental side. He’s the future of the organization. So we’re just trying to give him some good direction and help him have a long career.’’

The exit velocities on Cruz’s homers checked in at 111.1 and 111.8 mph. His other five spring homers: 116.6, 115.0, 114.4, 105.4 and 104.9.

“He’s awesome,’’ Pérez said.

Pérez: Ready for the real thing
Pérez said he was pleased with another productive spring outing, which included 11 swings and misses. But he cautioned against putting too much weight on spring statistics.

“I don’t care about Spring Training,’’ Pérez said. “I don’t care about how many strikeouts and how many innings you can do. … I don’t care about numbers. I’m here to help the team win.

“When the season starts, that’s when you go out there and show what you have. This is good. But you have to move on every day, keep working, get ready for the next one and see what’s going to happen next week in Miami [in the opening regular-season series]."

More thoughts on Skenes
Right-hander Paul Skenes, the former LSU All-American who was the first overall pick in last summer’s MLB Draft, was reassigned to Minor League camp on Sunday, but he made a favorable impression on manager Derek Shelton.

“No. 1 -- and let’s take the stuff out of it and how he pitched -- was just his overall composure, his professionalism for being a young player and how he handled himself in a Major League clubhouse,’’ Shelton said. “I think it was one of the reasons we kind of uncharacteristically told him he was not going to start the year in the big leagues -- not only to him, but publicly -- but still kept him in camp. You don’t [normally] see that.

“I think it's a testament to him of how he handled himself around our groups, especially our veteran players. And then, No. 2, I think it shows how important we feel he is to us. We wanted him to be around our group for another week before we were able to send him out.’’

It might be tempting to speed up Skenes' progress and get him to Pittsburgh as soon as possible. But Shelton said the Pirates are determined to do what’s best for the player.

“We have a schedule, and I would say we’re going to stick very strongly to it,’’ Shelton said. “We will have conversations with him about where he’s at. We have to get him used to the professional routine, how much he’s going to pitch and what the buildup is going to be because [of] how important he is to us.’’