Oneil Cruz...Married to Lovely and has two sons Oneil (8/13/18) and Owen (10/15/20)...Received his first name from his father’s baseball idol, former big leaguer Paul O’Neill...When visiting Yankee Stadium in 2022, Cruz had the opportunity to FaceTime with Paul and the two swapped autographed jerseys...His father, Rafael, played three seasons in the minors for the Texas Rangers in the mid-80s...His older brother, Homer, was a member of the Chicago White Sox Minor League system from 2018-22...His younger brother, Rafael, Jr., signed with the Minnesota Twins during the 2021 international signing period...Is the tallest position player (6’7”) to play for the Pirates and became the tallest shortstop in Major League history when he made his debut on 10/2/21.
2023
Was the Opening Day starter at shortstop and leadoff batter; hit the first home run of the season with a solo shot in the third inning...Became the first Pirates leadoff hitter to homer on Opening Day since Nate McLouth on 3/31/08 at Atlanta…Also became the fifth Bucco shortstop to homer on Opening Day and the first since Jay Bell on 4/26/95…Hit safely in each of his first four games and reached base safely in his first nine games thru 4/9…Suffered a fractured left ankle in play at the plate on 4/9 vs. Chicago (AL) and missed the remainder of the season…Had surgery on 4/9 to stabilize the fractured fibula and address the injury to the syndesmosis (surgery performed in Pittsburgh by Dr. Greg Altman and Dr. Darren Frank)…Was placed on the 10-day injured list on 4/10…Was transferred to 60-day injured list on 4/11.
2022
Ranked third among all National League rookies in home runs, second in RBI and slugging (.450), sixth in OPS (.744), fourth in extra base hits (34), fifth in total bases (149) and tied for fourth in stolen bases (10)... Became one of just eight rookies in MLB history to record 10-plus home runs and 10-plus stolen bases while playing fewer than 90 games during their first Major League season (the first to do it since Fernando Tatis Jr. in 2019)... Ranked first among all National League rookies in home runs (17) and RBI (54), second in slugging (.450), OPS (.744), extra base hits (34) and total bases (149), fourth in stolen bases (10) and third in OBP (.294) from the time of his recall on 6/20 through the end of the regular season...Hit 16 home runs as a shortstop, tied for the third-most in a single season in club history along with Jay Bell in 1991...Homered six times in 50 at-bats vs. Milwaukee to become one of just two rookies in Pirates history to hit six-plus home runs vs. an opponent in a season along with Ralph Kiner, who hit seven vs. St. Louis in 1946 in seven games...Began the season with Indianapolis, where he was the Opening Day starter at shortstop...Hit .308 (24-for-78) with six home runs, 14 RBI and a .968 OPS in 21 games with Indianapolis from 5/22 through 6/19...Was recalled by Pittsburgh on 6/20...Made his season debut that night as the starting shortstop vs. Chicago (NL) and went 2-for-5 with a double and four RBI...Had multiple total bases, an RBI and scored a run in each of the first three games of his big league career; according to Stats Inc., since RBI became an official statistic in 1920, the only other player to do that was Joe DiMaggio...Recorded an RBI in each of his first six big league games (10 RBI total); the first player in team history since RBI became an official stat to record at least one RBI in each of his first six games (the previous mark was held by Cookie Lavagetto, who did so in each of his first five career games in 1934)...Since RBI became an official statistic in 1920, he became one of three players all-time to record an RBI in each of his first six career games and the first to do so since George Shuba with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948...Became one of just three Pirates since 1920 to have 10-plus RBI through his first six career games, joining Jack Merson in 1951 and Dick Stuart in 1958, who both logged 10 RBI in their first six games...Recorded at least one RBI in each of his first nine career home games; the last Pirates player with at least one RBI in nine consecutive home games was Orlando Merced in 1996 from 7/24 to 9/21 (he had 10 consecutive games with an RBI at Three Rivers Stadium)...Connected off Erick Fedde for his first home run on 6/27 at Washington...Hit a 118.4mph single on 8/4 vs. Milwaukee, at the time was the hardest hit ball by a Pirates player since the advent of Statcast in 2015... Hit a 122.4mph single on 8/24 vs. Atlanta, the hardest hit ball by a MLB player in the Statcast era...Hit a 437-foot home run off Corbin Burnes on 8/29 at Milwaukee; at 118 mph, it was the hardest hit home run by a Pirates player in the Statcast era... Had his first career three-hit game and connected off New York’s Tommy Hunter for a home run that bounced into the Allegheny River on 9/6.
2021
Entered season listed as the “Best Athlete” and the “Best Power Hitter” in the Pirates system by Baseball America...Also ranked by Baseball America as the No. 50 prospect among all Major League teams...Ranked by MLB Pipeline as Pittsburgh’s third-best prospect (rated by the same outlet as the tenth-best shortstop prospect and 59th overall among the top 100 prospects in the game)...Was the recipient of the inaugural Willie Stargell Slugger-of-the-Year award...Led minor league system in batting average...Hit .310 (84-for-271) with 16 doubles, five triples, 17 home runs, 47 RBI, 19 stolen bases and a .970 OPS in 68 minor league games... Spent majority of season with Double-A Altoona, where he was named to the Double-A Northeast League post-season All-Star Team...Tied for second in the league in triples and tied for ninth in stolen bases...Began season at the alternate training site in Pittsburgh; was assigned to Altoona to start the minor league season on 5/1...Went 4-for-5 with a home run, four RBI and three stolen bases on 6/2 at Richmond... Homered three times in a four-game span from 6/9-12...Hit .369 (31-for-84) with six doubles, two triples, six home runs, 17 RBI, a .411 OBP, .702 slugging percentage and 1.113 OPS while reaching base safely in 21 straight games from 5/26 thru 6/19...Was on the injured list from 7/6 thru 8/19 with a right forearm strain...Went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI in his first game back on 8/20 vs. Somerset while serving as the designated hitter...Went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles in his final Double-A game on 9/18...Was promoted to Indianapolis on 9/20 and homered in his first Triple-A game while playing shortstop on 9/22 at Omaha...Went 3-for-4 with a solo homer and three runs scored on 9/24 at Omaha...Hit a leadoff homer on 9/26 at Omaha...Went 4-for-5 with a double, a homer and two RBI on 9/29 vs. Nashville; tied the game with a two-run homer in the ninth inning... Went 9-for-12 with three home runs over a three-game span from 9/24-29...Homered in each of his last four games with Indianapolis and in five of the six overall; went 11-for-21 (.524) with seven RBI and a 1.941 OPS in the six games...Made all 59 defensive appearances at shortstop (54 games with Altoona and five with Indianapolis); also made nine appearances as the designated hitter...Was recalled by the Pirates on 10/2 and made his Major League debut that night vs. Cincinnati; started at shortstop and singled off Tyler Mahle in second at-bat...Connected off Mychal Givens for first big league home run on 10/3.
2020
Entered season ranked by Baseball America as Pittsburgh’s No. 3 prospect...Also listed as the “Best Power Hitter,” the “Best Athlete” and as having the “Best Infield Arm” in the system...Spent season at the Pirates alternate training site in Altoona...Played winter ball in the Dominican Republic with the Gigantes del Cibao and hit .245 (12-for-49) with one double, two triples and one RBI in 14 games.
2019
Entered season ranked by Baseball America as Pittsburgh’s No. 3 prospect...Also listed as the “Best Power Hitter,” the “Best Athlete” and as having the “Best Infield Arm” in the system...Spent season at the Pirates alternate training site in Altoona...Played winter ball in the Dominican Republic with the Gigantes del Cibao and hit .245 (12-for-49) with one double, two triples and one RBI in 14 games.
2018
Spent entire season with West Virginia, where he was named to the South Atlantic League’s post-season All-Star team...Ranked ninth among the league leaders with 46 extra base hits and fifth in batting average...Finished tied for fifth among Pirates minor leaguers in RBI...Homered twice on 4/13 at Hickory...Hit .215 in April before hitting safely in 14 straight games from 4/27 to 5/14, lifting season average to .274... Led the South Atlantic League with 39 hits, 15 extra base hits and finished second with a .375 average during the month of June while being named the league’s Player-of-the-Month... Was named the South Atlantic League’s Most Outstanding Prospect following the season (the first Pirates minor leaguer to receive the award since Andrew McCutchen in 2006).
2017
Hit .237 (94-for-397) with 10 homers and 44 RBI in 105 total games between Great Lakes (Dodgers’ A) and Single-A West Virginia...Set career high in games played...Hit his first professional home run on 4/8 at Lansing...Hit safely in 21 of his 24 games played in May, raising his season average from .133 to .218...Homered in back-to-back games on 7/19-20...Went 5-for-5 on 7/20 at Cedar Rapids...Was acquired by Pittsburgh on 7/31 and went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in his first game with West Virginia on 8/5 vs. Delmarva.
2016
Spent first professional season with the DSL Dodgers 1 team...Had seven consecutive hits (four doubles) in back-toback games on 6/11 (4-for-4) and 6/13 (3-for-3).
