Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz Making Progress in Injury Recovery

The Pittsburgh Pirates received a promising injury update on star shortstop Oneil Cruz, who has been sidelined since early April after breaking his leg.

The Pittsburgh Pirates received a promising injury update on star shortstop Oneil Cruz, who has been sidelined since early April after breaking his leg.

The following comes from the RotoWire fantasy baseball portal:

Pirates director of sports medicine Todd Tomczyk said Wednesday that Cruz (fibula) is expected to transition out of his walking boot next week, Justice delos Santos of MLB.com reports.

ANALYSIS
When that happens, he'll be cleared for strength and range-of-motion exercises for his surgically-repaired left leg. Cruz is expected to be on the shelf until sometime in August.

It's still a ways off, we recognize, but initially, there was fear that Cruz would miss the season after the injury.

An August return would leave him anywhere between one and two full months to play for the Pirates, who are in the the thick of the National League playoff picture at this point.

The Pirates enter play on Wednesday at 27-27 overall and 1.0 game back of the first-place Brewers in the National League Central.

Cruz, 24, is among the brightest young stars in the game. He is hitting .250 for the season with a homer, four RBI and three stolen bases through 32 at-bats.

He made his major league debut in 2021 but really burst out in 2022, clocking 19 home runs and bringing in 61 in just 87 games.

At the time of this posting, the Pirates are getting ready to take on the San Francisco Giants. They'll be off on Thursday before hosting the St. Louis Cardinals.

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