Pittsburgh Pirates to Call Up Prospect Oneil Cruz

It was announced that Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz will be called up after he spent 54 games down in Triple-A Indianapolis to start the season. Cruz previously came up with Pittsburgh during the 2021 season, where he hit .333 in nine at-bats.

You don't see many if any tall shortstops in baseball anymore, especially close to MLB-ready shortstops, but Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz, standing a 6-7, is the anomaly to that statement and then some.

He's easily one of the most intriguing prospects that Major League Baseball has seen in quite some time, boasting some of the best raw potential of any player in recent memory.

On Sunday, Kody Duncan reported that the Pirates would be calling up Cruz after much anticipation since he was assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis at the start of the year.

Cruz has struggled to start the 2022 season, hitting .233/.337/.424 with nine home runs and 35 RBI, but he has a pedigree of minor league success, posting at least an .830 OPS in 2018, '19 and 2021.

That 2021 minor league season, split between Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis, was the most impressive of the bunch to date.

He hit .310 with a .970 OPS, hit 17 home runs with 47 RBI in 69 games, including slashing .524/.655/1.286 in six games in Triple-A, hitting five home runs with seven RBI in those games.

This is the same player who in spring training earlier this year, hit moonshot home runs, timing up MLB pitching well and looking more than ready to take that next step and stay up in the big leagues indefinitely.

That cup of coffee last year brought with it even more hype, and considering Cruz is only 23, he's got plenty of time to live up to it.

Him paired up with Ke'Bryan Hayes on the left side of the infield is going to create a young core Pirates fans will be looking forward to for quite some time.