Pirates' Oneil Cruz Poised For Huge Season?
There's no denying the talent of Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz.
If everything were to click for Cruz, he could enter the conversation for one of the better players in baseball. In fact, he's already in elite company when it comes to some stats.
Cruz's average exit velocity was a staggering 95.5 miles per hour. That only trailed 2024 MVPs Aaron Judge (96.2) and Shohei Ohtani (95.8) and was ahead of Giancarlo Stanton (94.6) and Juan Soto (94.2). Among those who are high on the Pirates center fielder based on his metrics from last season and the talent he possesses is former three-time All-Star and MLB Network analyst Sean Casey.
"This guy is really a specimen," Casey said. "I think moving to center field is going to help him to take away some of that pressure of playing over there at shortstop. But this guy, flat-out hits rockets. The ball jumps off his bat. He's got a cannon of an arm. The tools for this guy, the StatCast tools are just on another level."
Oneil Cruz is a sight to behold on the diamond! 💪
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) February 2, 2025
What does he have in store for 2025?
📺 "Statcast: Best of the Season" powered by @googlecloud pic.twitter.com/XqH6MKv8KX
Casey played 13 seasons in the big leagues, including part of the 2006 season with the Pirates before he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. Casey also played for the Cleveland Guardians, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox. Casey was also the New York Yankees' hitting coach for part of the 2023 season.
Cruz ranked in the 97th percentile or better in barrel percentage (15.7), hard-hit percentage (54.9) and bat speed (78.6) by StatCast's metrics. Cruz was in the 100th percentile for bat speed.
After playing 98 games across his first three seasons in the big leagues, Cruz played 146 games last season and slashed .259/.324/.449 with 21 home runs and 76 RBIs and he led Pittsburgh with 22 stolen bases.
THANK YOU ONEIL CRUZ 🫶 pic.twitter.com/AtYAeSC5un
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 4, 2024
The 6-foot-7 center fielder wasn't without his detriments, though. He was in the fifth percentile in whiff percentage (34.1) and the eighth percentile in strikeout percentage (30.2). If Cruz is going to make the leap many think he's capable of, Casey believes he must improve in those areas and become much more consistent for an entire season.
"Over 162 you want consistency," Casey said. "You want to be able to have that squared-up percentage to be a little higher. It's great that you have great exit velo, launch angle and stuff like that but if the other metrics on the whiff rate and things are down, I need a consistent player over 162 That's why he hasn't put up the big numbers yet."
