Pittsburgh Recalls No. 52 Overall Prospect Oneil Cruz

INDIANAPOLIS – The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that the No. 52 rated prospect in Minor League Baseball (MLB Pipeline), Oneil Cruz, has been recalled for tonight’s game vs. Cincinnati at PNC Park. He will be the fifth active member of the Indianapolis Indians roster to make his debut in 2021 and the second this week, following RHP Roansy Contreras (PIT No. 6) on Wednesday.

Cruz, 22, was promoted to Indianapolis from Double-A Altoona on Sept. 20 and has homered in five of his six games with the Indians. Since making his Triple-A debut on Sept. 22 at Omaha, he leads all Triple-A East batters with a .524 batting average (11-for-21), five home runs, a .655 on-base percentage, 1.286 slugging percentage and 1.941 OPS. On Sept. 30, his most recent game played with Indianapolis, he became the first Indians batter since Adam Boeve in 2008 to homer in four consecutive games.

The 6-foot-7 shortstop entered the 2021 campaign rated as Pittsburgh’s No. 2 prospect, ‘Best Power Hitter,’ ‘Best Athlete’ and ‘Best Infield Arm’ by Baseball America. He was also named with having the ‘Best Arm’ among all minor leaguers by MLB Pipeline. Outside of a stint on the injured list from July 6-Aug. 19, he spent the majority of the season with Altoona and hit .292 (73-for-250) with 15 doubles, five triples (T-2nd in Double-A Northeast), 12 home runs, 40 RBI, 18 stolen bases (T-9th) and an .882 OPS.

Cruz was traded to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles (NL) on July 31, 2017 with Angel German in exchange for LHP Tony Watson. He was originally signed by the Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent out of the Dominican Republic on July 2, 2015.

Indianapolis’ first-time callups are presented by Franciscan Health