Pittsburgh Pirates Have One Last Treat In Store, Recall Oneil Cruz For Final Weekend

Photo Credit: Jesse Kirkendall 

Today marks another big day, as late Friday night word got out that the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to promote one of their top prospects, Oneil Cruz, to finish out the regular season with the major league team.

Cruz is one of the most exciting prospects not only in the Pirates system, but in all of baseball. Standing at 6'7", the Dominican born Cruz has defied odds to this point by remaining at shortstop to this point in his career. 

While he has one of the strongest arms in baseball, his height profiles him more as an outfielder than at his current position.

But let's be fair, it's the bat that got him here and it's his ability with that piece of lumber that will allow him to play wherever.

He has that kind of power.

This is an awesome moment for the Pirates, and Cruz. It's only for two games, yes, but like Roansy Contreras, it's a reward for Cruz's play during the season and to give a glimpse into what lies ahead for the organization.

Between the Contreras start, Cole Tucker's performance on Friday and now Cruz getting his opportunity, it's been a pretty exciting final week of the season.

With Mason Martin going deep again on Friday, and Rodolfo Castro also destroying the ball in Indianapolis, there's actually a reason to get excited in Pittsburgh again. 

Really, let's just enjoy some highlights on way he's a personal favorite of mine and why the managers in double-A thought enough of him to vote him as the Most Exciting Player in their division on Baseball America.

In six games with Indianapolis, Cruz has hit five home runs and is slugging an insane 1.286. He's also walked (8) more times than he has struck out (5).


 There may not be any one person more excited to see Cruz in Pittsburgh than the roller coaster at PNG Field, as it took a beating at his hands.

This may be my favorite play of the year that Cruz made. He hit so many moon shot home runs to keep count, and they were all exciting but this was just madness. He chased down a ball in the outfield, picked it up and threw a bullet to home to catch the runner. The crazy part is he didn't get to the ball until the runner started to round third. He still threw him out from left field.

Insane.


Location: Virginia, USA

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