His last swing was the loudest, sending a ball over the right field seating section and into the Allegheny River.
Leaving the cage, Oneil Cruz went over to a turned over ball bucket and sat down. His batting practice session might have been the most photographed and recorded for any Pirate player this year. In just a few moments, his new team would post their lineup card to social media and he would be batting eighth and playing shortstop.
He smiled. He’d been doing a lot of that on PNC Park’s infield dirt so far.
“When I got on that field and I began to stretch, I just felt nothing but excitement,” Cruz said postgame through translator Mike Gonzalez. “All I wanted was to get on that shortstop position.”
Late Friday night, the 22-year-old shortstop got the call to the majors. His first call was to his dad. This was their shared dream. Rafael Cruz was a minor-league player who never reached the majors. His favorite player was Paul O’Neill, the namesake for Cruz’s first name.
The two Cruz men didn’t share many words during that call.
“He wasn't even able to share true words with me,” Cruz said. “He just began yelling and celebrating. He was so excited. That's why I'm really looking forward to getting back to the room tonight, and finally give him a phone call so I can really hear him out and see what message he has for me.”
As the BP session concluded and players up, Cruz helped collect balls and then disappeared into the clubhouse with his new teammates.
Later Saturday night, he would line up with his teammates in the victory line, chipping with a couple hits – one of which was the hardest hit ball in the Statcast era for any Pirate batter – in an 8-6 win over the Reds at PNC Park.
It was a debut that somehow lived up to nearly impossibly high expectations. It’s a promotion that even a day before didn’t look to be in the cards.
Less than two weeks ago, Cruz had been promoted from Class AA Altoona to AAA Indianapolis, alongside seven of his teammates. He excelled, homering in five of his six games played with a .524 batting average.
On Friday night, Derek Shelton and Ben Cherington made the decision to call up their top prospect, ranked No. 19 in the game by Baseball America. Not because of how he crushed the ball over six games at the highest level of the farm system, but to give him a taste in the majors and recognize the work he did all season.
“The decision was made by us providing challenges to him and him coming through with those challenges,” Shelton said. “The statistical things are nice. If you saw his at-bats, they were really good. But it was more about accountability. That’s important, and we felt he was accountable."
“It’s important to get a little taste,” Shelton also said. “Regardless of how small of a taste you get of the big leagues, it’s still the big leagues. It’s different than everyplace else. It’s the best players in the world.”
With the regular season coming to a close Sunday, Cruz didn’t see himself getting called up to the majors this late and thought his last weekend was going to be spent in Indianapolis.
“I’ll take this over that any day,” Cruz said.
ALEX STUMPF / DKPS
Oneil Cruz watches the end of batting practice Saturday.
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In 2015, Major League Baseball equipped each of its 30 ballparks with multiple sets of cameras and a radar tracking device to log advanced data that had been previously unavailable on a macro scale. This officially began the Statcast era, and one of the newest stats they could track was a batted ball’s exit velocity.
In the seven years from opening day 2015 to entering Saturday’s game, Pirate batters had put 27,288 batted balls in play, the two hardest of which were clocked at an exit velocity at 116.2 mph. One was on a lineout by Gregory Polanco in April of this year, the other a river blast by Josh Bell in his prime in May of 2019.
In the seventh inning, Cruz’s fourth trip to the plate, he shattered that record, lining a baseball 118.2 mph off the bat.
Oneil Cruz's 118.2 MPH single is the hardest-hit batted ball by a @Pirates hitter since at least 2015.
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) October 3, 2021
This is Cruz's debut. pic.twitter.com/MLLS6VISBL
“He just threw the bat at it and hit it that hard,” Bryan Reynolds said. “That’s unheard of.”
Going by maximum exit velocity, only six players this year can top that: Giancarlo Stanton, Manny Machado, Aaron Judge, Shoehei Ohtani, Franchy Cordero and Pete Alonso. Of them, Stanton is the only player to have multiple batted balls hit that hard.
When asked on the field by the AT&T SportsNet crew how he could hit a baseball that hard, Cruz answered, “That’s who I am.”
“I didn’t know it was the hardest-hit ball [ever for the Pirates], but I know this kid is talented,” Shelton said. “He hits the ball hard. We saw him hit the ball hard in the minor leagues.”
Earlier in the night, back in the fifth inning, Cruz had another hard-hit single, this one scoring Ben Gamel to put the Pirates on the board. The following batter, Wilmer Difo, dropped a line drive into the right-center gap, and Cruz was able to come all the way around to score.
In the process, he nearly caught up with Jacob Stallings, who started on second base.
“I know he’s the Cheetah,” a running joke on Stallings’ speed, or lack thereof. “But I don’t know what we’re going to come up with for the way Oneil went first to home.”
Five batters later, Michael Chavis doubled down the line in left, giving the Pirates a lead after erasing a 5-0 deficit at the start of the inning. Cruz helped get it started.
“Any time one of your prospects comes to the big leagues, it’s a big night,” Shelton said. “… I do think that it gave us some momentum. And the crowd got into it, man.”
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The first time Ke’Bryan Hayes saw Cruz was at Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. Cruz was just 19 at the time, but his batting practice was eye-opening.
“[He was] hitting ‘em dead-center off the curveball machine,” Hayes recalled.
Hayes got to work with Cruz more last summer at the alternate training site in Altoona. There had been buzz around him for a few years at that point, and it was easy to see why, even in practice and scrimmages.
“He’s a unicorn,” Hayes said. “He’s 6’8”, hitting balls 600 feet. He has a cannon. I’m just excited he’s getting this opportunity.”
“Unicorn” is one way to put it. Cruz’s teammates have others.
“[He's] what happens when Kevin Durant was born in the Dominican and decided to be a baseball player," Cal Mitchell said.
“Special talent,” Canaan Smith-Njigba said. “… He’s putting on a show. Not just for the fans but for his teammates as well.”
“He’s my favorite player," Rodolfo Castro said through translator Gustavo Omana, an Indianapolis Indians coach.
Cruz’s outrageous raw power is sure to make him a lot of people’s favorite player. With every Cruz swing yields the potential to bring forth something never before seen. Like a 118.2 mph hit on a ball he nearly topped.
It also presented one of his greatest developmental challenges. He doesn’t need to sell out for power. It comes naturally. The swing didn’t always reflect that, with him taking bigger cuts than necessary at different points, whether based on situation or if he was pressing. He had talent and passion for the game. Use it, responsibly.
There were moments early on that the message was resonating, like on a chilly evening in Altoona on May 7. With the tying run in scoring position with two outs, Cruz shortened up his swing and hit it to the opposite field off a lefty, tying the game. The Curve would go on to win because of his situational hitting.
“This is the Cruz that we’re actually looking for anytime. Every situation,” Curve manager Miguel Pérez told me that night. “... It’s gonna take a while. He’s 22. He’s young.”
Plus, he’s 6’7”, the tallest position player ever in the Pirates’ recorded history and the tallest to ever play the shortstop position in the majors. Managing his motions and movement go into that.
“I had some teammates and coaches that have been pouring into me,” Cruz said. “Being able to speed up my game and play the game a bit quicker has helped me a lot this season. It feels great.”
He did have a few wild swings with the bases loaded Saturday, obviously going for a grand slam but striking out on both occasions. But his approach on the night, outside of those gargantuan cuts, was more consistent than it looked in spring training, when he was trying, perhaps pressing, to make a good impression.
“To be this big and be able to play baseball, it’s challenging,” Shelton said. “I’m just excited. This is a win for us developmentally. Miggy Pérez and his staff did an unbelievable job with him this year.”
Cruz took a notable step, which is why he jumped up prospect boards late in the season despite missing time with a forearm injury. The league took notice, and so did his teammates and coaches.
“There’s no way this guy is the 50th best player in minor-league baseball,” Curve hitting coach David Newhan told me in the later part of the season, referring to Cruz’s ranking on top 100 prospect lists at the time. “He’s number one, by far.”
JUSTIN BERL / GETTY
Oneil Cruz congratulates Bryan Reynolds after the win.
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Despite the win Saturday or whatever the result Sunday will be, the 2021 Pirates are just the ninth club in franchise history to lose 100 games. In the early stages of a rebuild, they simply did not have the major league talent to compete with other clubs, though there are bright spots and building blocks for the future. Reynolds has blossomed into one of the game’s best outfielders. Stallings is the favorite to win the Gold Glove behind the plate. Hayes seems destined to win some Gold Gloves too before he calls it a career.
Many are looking to Cruz being part of that core. Pérez wanted to make sure he didn’t feel that pressure when he was playing. He said it doesn’t.
"I really don't feel any of that pressure,” Cruz said. “At the end of the day, I'm a ball player. That's part of my job, that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to play hard. I'm here to help this organization win. That's what I got.”
Cruz is part of that plan for the future. The question is where? There has been debate on if he would be better sticking at his natural shortstop or moving to the outfield. The debate is that if he moves to the outfield, his elite arm could stay play and he would make fewer errors. Having that type of bat at shortstop, however, would be a game-changer for a lineup, and the runs he adds would, in theory, more than cover the runs he loses in the field.
Cruz took part of basic drills in the outfield in Altoona and played briefly in center during spring training. His preference, though, is clear.
“All I wanted was to get on that shortstop position, and I just kept telling myself, 'Man, I just want to stand in that shortstop position. I just want to stand in that shortstop position,' ” Cruz said.
There’s another “where” to answer? Where does he start 2022? The dam has been broken, and the Pirates have shown that, even if it is for just two days to reward him for a whole season’s worth of work, that they are willing to play him in the majors. Could he earn a major league job out of spring training? General manager Ben Cherington has said in the past that once a player has reached Class AAA, they aren’t really a prospect anymore and they could be promoted to the majors at any point.
But could the Pirates seriously promote a player for good after just a week in Class AAA? Could they really be ready that soon?
Cruz might be.
“I look back at everything that I fought through, and everything that I’ve gone through to reach this day, from the hard work, the preparation, the sacrifice, everything,” Cruz said. “Everything that’s been a part of this journey, I look back at it, take a look at today, and I truly believe that I belong here.”
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Cruz grabbed the headlines Saturday, but it was Reynolds who carried the Pirates, recording four hits, including a double and a triple.
With that 4-for-5 performance, Reynolds is now hitting .303.
"It would be really, really cool," Reynolds said. "It was one of my goals this year. It didn’t look like it was gonna happen. I was thinking about it a lot. I told myself, it doesn’t matter. From then on, I just kind of relaxed and things have happened."
Shelton said he and Reynolds will have a discussion of if he will play the finale or if he'll take the guaranteed .300 season. He would need to go at least 0-for-6 Sunday to drop back into the .200s.
• Max Kranick's final start of the season was not the sharpest outing of the year, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits, two walks and a homer while striking out two over four innings.
For someone who started in Altoona with Cruz and finished in the majors, that rise and growth is a sign of optimism, even if the major league results weren't there in his first year.
"We've seen growth from the beginning to the end here," pitching coach Oscar Marin said over Zoom before the game. "We challenged him a couple times on usages, game planning, which he got better. Controlling the running game, where he got better. Being able to minimize that big inning, which he's gotten better. It's one of those things that every time he's gone down, he's had a message to take with him, and he's gotten better each time out. For him, it's one of those things as well where he's asked, 'what type of information can I get so I can work on it when I'm down in AAA?' When he went down, he asked for that, he got it and he did a great job executing it."
Nick Mears allowed a game-tying double in the sixth inning, but since the Pirates reclaimed the lead in the home half he got his first major league win. Chris Stratton picked up his eighth save of the season.
• Before the game, Hayes shared that the Pirates had identified a cyst in his left hand between the second and third digits, which they believe was contributing to his hand and wrist pain this season.
“I guess whenever I first hurt it, they didn’t find the cyst,” Hayes said. “Just by looking at some stuff, I guess that comes from chronic injuries. Over time, they can form. Once I get home, I’m going to get with some doctors, just to see what the next steps are and probably get with an occupational PT [physical therapist], just to do some stuff while I’m not hitting those first two months, just to get it back healthy.”
Hayes suffered a left wrist strain during the second game of the season, sidelining him for two months. He felt a “zing” down his hand after swinging on a changeup against the Reds on Monday and told the team. After it didn’t heal in a day, the Pirates opted to place him on the injured list to be safe. Hayes said his left wrist soreness has felt the same over the past few days.
That injury brought the Pirates’ prized rookie to a slightly earlier end than expected. While he lived up to the hype defensively and could be in Gold Glove consideration, he fell far short of matching his 2020 offensive output, hitting just .257 with a .689 OPS. Hayes said he felt he did better towards the end of the season, crediting doing more work on the velocity machine than live batting practice.
Even with the ups and downs and the injuries, Hayes feels he learned a lot about navigating the majors this year.
“I feel like this year, it was all about, honestly, getting through it,” he said. “I was kinda dealing with it every now and then the whole time, since like the All-Star break. It was more trying to get through it. I’m not worried about it at all. Coming into next year, I know I’m going to drive the ball if I get my legs and stuff back under me and once I get this figured out. I’ll be fine.”
• Well, one final chance for that first sweep of the season.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Cole Tucker, 2B
2. Yoshi Tsutsugo, RF
3. Bryan Reynolds, CF
4. Colin Moran, 1B
5. Michael Chavis, 3B
6. Ben Gamel, LF
7. Jacob Stallings, C
8. Oneil Cruz, SS
9. Max Kranick, RHP
And for David Bell's Reds:
1. Max Schrock, 2B
2. Tyler Stephenson, C
3. Nick Castellanos, RF
4. Joey Votto, 1B
5. Eugenio Suarez, 3B
6. Jose Barrero, SS
7. TJ Friedl, CF
8. Delino DeShields, CF
9. Tyler Mahle, RHP
THE SYSTEM
THE SCHEDULE
This is it, everyone. One last game. Mitch Keller (5-11, 6.27) will take on Leiver Sanmartin (1-0, 1.59). All games are starting at 3:05 p.m. Sunday. I'll be at PNC Park to cross the finish line for the 2021 season with yinz.
THE CONTENT
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