Pirates’ Oneil Cruz Named Extension Candidate
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As the Pittsburgh Pirates continue to neglect free agency year after year, retaining their own talent is imperative to generating sustainable success.
The franchise hasn't shied away from extending players in pre-arbitration or with considerable amounts of team control left, leading MLB.com's Mark Feinsand to believe they could do the same with center fielder Oneil Cruz.
"Over the past three years, the Pirates have locked up Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds and Mitch Keller, showing a willingness to keep their young players in Pittsburgh," Feinsand wrote. "While extending Paul Skenes would be a dream, that’s unlikely to happen -- but what about Cruz? The shortstop-turned-center fielder had a bounce-back season in 2024, posting a 20-homer, 20-stolen base campaign after playing only nine games in 2023 thanks to a leg fracture. Pittsburgh doesn’t have any top outfield prospects, so extending Cruz would make sense."
Considering the Pirates have disproportionate amounts of pitching and position player talent in favor of the former, retaining a potential star like Cruz for the foreseeable future is all the more imperative.
The 26-year-old, as Feinsand mentioned, is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he logged 20 homers and 20 stolen bases while producing a slash line of .259/.324/.449 in 146 contests.
There's reason to believe Cruz can elevate his game to the next level too, as his average exit velocity of 95.5 miles-per-hour, average bat speed of 78.6 miles-per-hour, 15.7% barrel rate and 54.% hard-hit rate are among the top marks in MLB.
His upper-tier arm strength and sprint speed should also serve him well as he transitions to the outfield full-time.
Cruz is in his final year of pre-arb and won't reach free agency until after the 2028 season, so the clock isn't necessarily ticking on his time in Pittsburgh.
Still, the Pirates should make extending him a priority. When they came to terms with Reynolds on an eight-year, $106.75 million pact in 2023, he originally had three years of control remaining.
If Pittsburgh were able to consummate a similar deal with Cruz, it would lock up one of the faces of the franchise at an affordable number as it looks to open a window of contention.
Jack is a New Jersey native who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh as a Media & Professional Communications major in 2024 who is now covering the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Yankees for On SI.