Oneil Cruz

Oneil Cruz (born October 4, 1998) is a Dominican professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He made his MLB debut in 2021.

Oneil Cruz
Cruz with the Indianapolis Indians in 2021
Pittsburgh Pirates – No. 15
Shortstop
Born: (1998-10-04) October 4, 1998
Nizao, Dominican Republic
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
MLB debut
October 2, 2021, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
(through 2022 season)
Batting average.235
Home runs18
Runs batted in57
Teams

Career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Cruz signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2015 as an international free agent for a $950,000 signing bonus.[1] Cruz made his professional debut in 2016 with DSL Dodgers 1, batting .294 with 23 RBIs in 55 games. He began the 2017 season with the Great Lakes Loons.

Pittsburgh Pirates

On July 31, 2017, the Dodgers traded Cruz and Angel German to the Pirates in exchange for Tony Watson.[2] He was then assigned to the West Virginia Power. In 105 games between the two clubs, he slashed .237/.297/.350 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI.

In 2018, he played for the West Virginia Black Bears, batting .286 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs in 103 games, earning South Atlantic League All-Star honors.[3] Cruz began 2019 at Rookie-level with the FCL Pirates, batting .298 with zero home runs in three games. He was then promoted to the Class A-Advanced Bradenton Marauders, and slashed .302/.345/.515, hit seven home runs, and stole seven bases in 35 games. Then he was promoted to the Double-A Altoona Curve on July 30 with a slash line of .269/.346/.412 with one home run in 35 games.[4] He missed two months during the season after suffering a fractured foot.[5]

Cruz was added to the Pirates 40-man roster following the 2019 season.[6] He did not play in 2020 due to the cancellation of the Minor League Baseball season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruz split the 2021 minor league season between Altoona and the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, hitting a combined .310/.375/.594 with 17 home runs, 47 RBI, and 19 stolen bases.[7]

On October 2, 2021, Cruz was promoted to the active roster for the first time to make his MLB debut.[8][9] He appeared in two Major League games in the 2021 season and hit his first career home run on October 3 in Pittsburgh.[10]

On March 29, 2022, it was announced that Cruz would not make the team out of Spring Training, and was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis to begin the year.[11] Over five spring training games, he batted .333 with two home runs.[12]

On August 24, 2022, Cruz hit the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era against Atlanta Braves pitcher Kyle Wright. The ball was a recorded at 122.4 miles per hour (197.0 km/h).[13]

Personal life

Cruz is the son of retired minor leaguer Rafael Cruz. The elder Cruz named his son after his favorite player, former New York Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill.[14]

On September 22, 2020, Cruz was involved in a deadly vehicle crash in the Dominican Republic in which three people were killed. The accident occurred when his Jeep collided with a motorcycle carrying the three deceased that was traveling with no lights in the same direction that Cruz was traveling. Cruz survived the fatal accident without serious injury.[15]

Cruz is unusually tall for a shortstop. He is listed as 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) and 215 pounds (98 kg). The only taller major league shortstop was 6-foot-7-inch (2.01 m) Joel Guzmán, who played nine innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007. There have been three 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) major leaguers who started some games at shortstop — Archi Cianfrocco, Troy Glaus, and Michael Morse.[4]

References
  1. Stephen, Eric (July 2, 2015). "Dodgers sign 9 international prospects on Day 1". True Blue LA.
  2. Minami, Craig (July 31, 2017). "Dodgers acquire left-handed reliever Tony Watson from Pittsburgh for two minor leaguers". SB Nation. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  3. Kahn, David (August 28, 2018). "Cruz and Mitchell Tabbed as SAL Annual All Stars | Power". Milb.com. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  4. Dykstra, Sam (July 30, 2019). "Pirates promote Cruz to the Double-A Altoona". MiLB.com. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  5. RotoWire Staff. "Pirates' Oneil Cruz: Suffers serious injury". CBSSports.com. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
  6. Berry, Adam (November 20, 2019). "Bucs add top prospects Hayes, Cruz to 40-man". MLB.com. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  7. Mackey, Jason (October 1, 2021). "Sources: Pirates expected to promote Oneil Cruz for Saturday's game". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2021-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. Gorman, Kevin (2021-10-02). "Pirates to promote top prospect Oneil Cruz, giving fans 1st glimpse of 6-foot-7 shortstop". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved 2021-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. Crouse, Jake (October 2, 2021). "Bucs call up No. 3 prospect Oneil Cruz". MLB.com. Retrieved 2021-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. "Oneil Cruz 2021 Batting Game Logs". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  11. "Pirates option top prospect Oneil Cruz to Triple-A Indianapolis in latest round of spring cuts". 29 March 2022.
  12. "Analysis: Pirates' decision to keep Oneil Cruz in minors frustrating for fans, difficult to untangle".
  13. "WOW! Oneil Cruz Just Set a New MLB Exit Velocity Record!". bleachernation.com. Retrieved 2022-08-24.
  14. Mackey, Jason. "Off The Bat: Oneil Cruz honors namesake — a Yankees legend — with his passion and humility". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  15. Adams, Steve (September 25, 2020). "Latest On ONeil Cruz". MLB Trade Rumors. Retrieved December 11, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.