Pirates Outfielder Oneil Cruz Joins Exclusive Club as Red-Hot Start Continues
In this story:
On the first pitch of Saturday night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates centerfielder Oneil Cruz mashed his eighth home run of the season. The home run also marked his fourth lead-off homer of the year, which leads all of Major League Baseball.
Oneil Cruz belts the first pitch of the game to center for a leadoff homer😤 pic.twitter.com/4QzsYliDNJ
— MLB (@MLB) April 27, 2025
Cruz's red-hot start to the 2024 campaign has put him in an exclusive club. He became just the third player in MLB history to hit eight home runs and steal 12 bases through the first 25 games of a season, joining Eric Davis (1987) and Brian Roberts (2005).
Earlier this month, manager Derek Shelton made the move to put Cruz at the top of the lineup, taking a lot of folks by surprise.
“I’ve tried a bunch of different people there. I’ve talked to a bunch of different people. Some people had strong thoughts on him going there. He’s done it before," Shelton said. "Just trying to find what works. I think there’s a chance we’ll run him out there for a bit and see how it works.”
One of the main reasons Shelton has him sitting at the top of the lineup is to ensure he gets more at-bats. Usually, when you have a power hitter who can do a lot of damage, they're placed in the middle of the lineup. Considering how poor the Pirates' offense has been, there's no sense in slotting him third or fourth when more often than not, he comes to the plate with no one on.
Cruz won't get pitched around nearly as much either. Opposing pitchers won't work to lead the game off with a base runner, so he's going to get something to hit. For a guy who has a pretty alarming career strikeout-to-walk ratio, it gives him at least one at-bat per game where he knows the pitcher will be pounding the zone.
It remains to be seen if Cruz will remain at the top of the lineup for the entirety of the season, but right now, it's working, and there's zero reason to believe Derek Shelton will go away from the strategy anytime soon.
Schuyler Callihan is the publisher of West Virginia On SI and has been a trusted source covering the Mountaineers since 2016. He is the host of Between The Eers, The Walk Thru Game Day Show, and In the Gun Podcast. The Wheeling, WV native moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2020 to cover the Charlotte Hornets and Carolina Panthers.