Oneil Cruz (born October 4, 1998) is a Dominican professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021.

Career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Cruz signed with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in July 2015 as an international free agent for a $950,000 signing bonus. Cruz made his professional debut in 2016 with DSL Dodgers 1, batting .294 with 23

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI) in 55 games. He began the 2017 season with the

Great Lakes Loons The Great Lakes Loons are a Minor League Baseball team of the Midwest League and the High-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are located in Midland, Michigan, and play their home games at Dow Diamond, which opened in April 2007. Hist ...

Pittsburgh Pirates

On July 31, 2017, the Dodgers traded Cruz and Angel German to the Pirates in exchange for

Tony Watson Anthony Michael Watson (born May 30, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels. Watson attend ...

. He was then assigned to the

West Virginia Power The Charleston Dirty Birds are an United States, American professional baseball team based in Charleston, West Virginia. They are a member of the South Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a MLB Partner League, partner league ...

. In 105 games between the two clubs, he

slashed Ash are a Northern Irish rock band formed in Downpatrick, County Down in 1992 by vocalist and guitarist Tim Wheeler, bassist Mark Hamilton and drummer Rick McMurray. As a three-piece, they released mini-album '' Trailer'' in 1994 and full-lengt ...

.237/.297/.350 with 10

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 44 RBI. In 2018, he played for the West Virginia Power, batting .286 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI in 103 games, earning

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

All-Star honors. Cruz began 2019 at High–A level with the

Bradenton Marauders The Bradenton Marauders are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Bradenton, Florida, and play their home games at LECOM Park, which also serves as the ...

, before suffering a right foot fracture on April 27. After missing two months due to the fractured foot, Cruz was assigned to the rookie-level

Gulf Coast League Pirates The Florida Complex League Pirates are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast League Pirates. The team plays its hom ...

on June 24. On July 28, Cruz was promoted to the Double-A

Altoona Curve The Altoona Curve are a Minor League Baseball team based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, named after nearby Horseshoe Curve (but also alluding to the curveball, a type of pitch). The team plays in the Eastern League and is the Double-A affiliate of ...

. He hit .298 in 73 games for the 2019 season across the three teams. On November 20, 2019, the Pirates added Cruz to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Cruz split the 2021 minor league season between Altoona and the Triple-A

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

, hitting a combined .310/.375/.594 with 17 home runs, 47 RBI, and 19

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out a ...

. On October 2, 2021, Cruz was promoted to the active roster for the first time to make his MLB debut. He appeared in two Major League games in the 2021 season and hit his first career home run on October 3 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. Cruz did not make the team out of

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2022 and was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis to begin the year. He was recalled to make his season debut on June 20 against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

, where he collected two hits, two runs, and four RBIs. On August 24, 2022, Cruz hit the then hardest-hit ball since the advent of

Statcast Statcast is an automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities in Major League Baseball (MLB). Statcast was introduced to all thirty MLB stadiums in 2015. The Statcast brand is also licensed to ESPN, which uses it to ...

against

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

pitcher

Kyle Wright Kyle Wright may refer to: *Kyle Wright (baseball) (born 1995), baseball player *Kyle Wright (American football) Kyle Wright (born October 18, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted ...

. The ball was recorded at . On April 10, 2023, Cruz fractured his left

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

while sliding into home plate, which was blocked by White Sox catcher

Seby Zavala Bernardo Sebastian Zavala (born August 28, 1993) is an American professional baseball catcher in the Boston Red Sox organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Seattle ...

while Cruz was attempting to score from third base on a ground ball. He was expected to miss four months, but after multiple setbacks, he was ruled out for the entire season. On August 26, 2024, manager

Derek Shelton Derek Lee Shelton (born July 30, 1970) is an American former professional baseball catcher, first baseman, coach, and manager. He is a former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). After his playing career in the New Y ...

announced that Cruz would be moving to

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the cen ...

for the foreseeable future. In 2024, Cruz batted .259/.324/.449 with 21 home runs, 76 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases, and had the highest maximum exit velocity in MLB, at 121.5 mph. Cruz hit his first career grand slam on April 16, 2025 against the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. They play their home games at Na ...

in a 6-1 victory. On May 25, 2025, Cruz hit the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast Era, at , beating the previous record, owned by himself, by . He did this against

Logan Henderson Logan Phillip Henderson (born September 14, 1989) is an American actor and singer. He played the role of Logan Mitchell on the Nickelodeon series ''Big Time Rush'' (2009–2013) and is a current member of the Big Time Rush band. Early life a ...

of the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

, reaching for a home run. On July 8, 2025, Oneil Cruz announced that he would be participating in the 2025 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, although he was not chosen to play in the 2025 MLB All-Star game.

Personal life

Cruz is the son of retired minor leaguer Rafael Cruz. The elder Cruz named his son after his favorite player, former

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

Paul O'Neill. On September 22, 2020, Cruz was involved in a deadly vehicle crash in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

in which three people were killed. The accident occurred when his

Jeep Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...

collided with a motorcycle carrying the three deceased that was traveling with no lights in the same direction that Cruz was traveling. Cruz survived the fatal accident without serious injury. Cruz is unusually tall for a shortstop. He is listed as and . The only other major league player to make an appearance at shortstop as tall was Joel Guzmán, who played nine innings for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

in 2007. There have been four major leaguers who started some games at shortstop —

Archi Cianfrocco Angelo Dominic "Archi" Cianfrocco (born October 6, 1966) is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or parts of seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), mostly at first and third base, from 1992 to 1998. Career Cianf ...

Elly De La Cruz Elly Antonio De La Cruz (born January 11, 2002) is a Dominican professional baseball shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He signed with the Reds as an international free agent in 2018 and made his MLB debut in 2023. ...

Troy Glaus Troy Edward Glaus (; born August 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and first baseman. Glaus played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Anaheim Angels (–), Arizona Diamondbacks (), Toronto Blue Jays (–), S ...

, and

Michael Morse Michael John Morse (born March 22, 1982) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, first baseman and shortstop. Morse was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2000 Major League Baseball Draft. ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Oneil 1998 births Living people Altoona Curve players Bradenton Marauders players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Dominican Summer League Dodgers players Gigantes del Cibao players Toros del Este players Great Lakes Loons players Gulf Coast Pirates players Indianapolis Indians players Leones del Escogido players Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen Major League Baseball shortstops People from Peravia Province Peoria Javelinas players Pittsburgh Pirates players Tigres del Licey players West Virginia Power players