The wait for Oneil Cruz is over.
Per sources, the Pirates are promoting their top prospect to the majors for the final weekend of the season, meaning the games Saturday and Sunday against the Reds at PNC Park.
Cruz, who will turn 23 on Monday, is ranked by Baseball America as the No. 19 prospect in the game. He started the year at No. 50.
The 6-foot-7 shortstop spent most of the season with Class AA Altoona, where he slashed .292/.346/.536 with 12 home runs and 18 stolen bases over 273 plate appearances. He was promoted to Class AAA Indianapolis after the Curve's season ended Sept. 19, and he homered in five of his six games at his new level while hitting .524 (11-for-21).
Early in the season, the focus for Cruz was on making sure he didn't press in games. The Altoona Curve's coaching staff knew he could feel pressure being one of the organization's top prospects.
As the season went on, they saw his approach improve and he began to play more consistent baseball.
“There’s no way this guy is the 50th best player in minor-league baseball,” Curve hitting coach David Newhan told me this season. “He’s number one, by far.”
Cruz's teammates who were promoted alongside him to Altoona in September also are quick to praise him.
"I always make this joke when someone says, 'Oh, that's crazy [how] Cruz is doing this,’ " outfielder Cal Mitchell said over Zoom Friday. “I say, 'Well, that's what happens when Kevin Durant was born in the Dominican and decided to be a baseball player.'"
“Oneil Cruz, man, special talent,” outfielder Canaan Smith-Njigba said. “It’s fun watching someone who can come up and do the things that he does so easily. He’s having fun. He’s putting on a show. Not just for the fans but for his teammates as well.”
“He’s my favorite player," infielder Rodolfo Castro said through translator Gustavo Omana, an Indians coach. “I’m going to follow him all the time. I’m very happy to see him and watch how he plays, how he does everything.”
Cruz's power has made him one of the most exciting minor-leaguers to come through the Pirates' farm system in quite some time. On Wednesday, for example, he launched a 423-foot home run with an exit velocity of 116 mph. Dating back to the start of the Statcast era in 2015, the only Pirate to ever hit a home run that hard at the major league level was Josh Bell.
423 FT. TO. THE. MOON. https://t.co/nE34Sp39FU pic.twitter.com/zXUeQVALqj
— Indianapolis Indians (@indyindians) October 1, 2021
There are concerns about his defense, though, with him making 13 errors at shortstop for Altoona and three in his first five games with Indianapolis. At his height, he would potentially be the tallest shortstop in recorded baseball history.
There has been plenty of speculation that Cruz could eventually end up in the outfield, and while he took some practice reps there with the Curve and in spring training games, he has not appeared in a regular season game in the outfield.
Cruz missed about six weeks with a forearm injury at the start of July, but was able to return with rest and rehab.
Cruz is the latest of the Pirates' top prospects to get playing time at the very end of the season. On Wednesday, Roansy Contreras, a teammate of Cruz this season and the Pirates' No. 6 prospect, made his major league debut, pitching three innings against the Cubs. Right-hander Miguel Yajure also made a pair of appearances towards the end of the season.
For a team that needs offense and power, Cruz is the Pirates' most anticipated slugger since Bell in 2016. If he lives up to the hype, it would be a major boost for the Pirates going on into 2022.
“He’s gonna make a lot of money in this game," Smith-Njigba said. "He makes this game look easy.”
The Pirates have two games remaining against the Reds before the season comes to a close Sunday.