No Obvious Ceiling

If you don’t have a favorite team and are looking for someone to root for—especially if you don’t think baseball only exists on the coasts—let us introduce you to Oneil Cruz, the slugging center fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cruz is a massive player at 6-7, 240 pounds, and he uses that frame to produce video game-type highlights. He’s a five-tool player with superstardom written all over him.

The native of Nazio, Dominican Republic, is also full of confidence and his enthusiasm is contagious.

“There is none,” teammate and former National League MVP Andrew McCutchen said of Cruz’s ceiling during Spring Training. “He doesn’t have one yet.

“You’ve got Shohei Ohtani—he’s on his own threshold, being a pitcher and position player. He does things that people go, ‘I’ve never seen that done.’ (Cruz also) does stuff you’ve never seen.

“He’s working in an open space. He has no ceiling. He’s building the foundation. The time will come when he knows what that is, and then the ceiling will start. As of right now, (there are) endless possibilities for him. I hope that’s how he views it.

“I want him to hit 100 homers. I feel like he can do it.”

A hundred home runs might be a stretch, but the future looks bright for Cruz. He very well might do things previously not seen around Major League Baseball stadiums. His home runs are called “Cruz missiles” by the Pirates’ broadcast crew because of the distance they’re hit and the speed at which they leave the park.

He has the highest average exit velocity (96.3) in baseball this year, better than sluggers Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto. His 432-foot home run off Logan Henderson of the Brewers in May left the bat at 122.9 miles per hour, the hardest-hit ball in the Statcast era (since 2015).

Cruz has struggled a little bit offensively this season. He’s hitting just .213 after the Pirates’ series in Colorado last weekend.

But he leads the Pirates in runs (56), triples (2, tied), home runs (18) and stolen bases (34), and he’s second in doubles (16) and RBIs (48). His 34 stolen bases are second in all of Major League Baseball. In the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he has 66 stolen bases and has been caught just five times.

His highlights include a 458-foot home run that I saw in person in Kansas City on the day he was selected to participate in the Home Run Derby at this year’s All Star Game festivities, as well as plenty of diving, running and leaping catches in the outfield.

Maybe his best game came August 1, when he hit a 451-foot grand slam in the first inning and later threw a strike from just in front of the warning track to nail the Rockies’ Brenton Doyle, who was trying to stretch a double into a triple.

His rocket arm is the reason he was moved from shortstop to the outfield during the 2024 season. He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 2022 after hitting 17 home runs and driving in 54 runs in just 87 games.

He has impressed the fans as well as his teammates.

He emulates McCutchen with a tip of the cap after hitting a home run, just like McCutchen did in his prime. That tribute is not lost on McCutchen.

“It’s humbling to know that a guy of his caliber and talent looks up to a person like me when there’s not many people—literally—that he’s looking up to. It’s humbling, and at the same time, it’s cool.”

He was in Kansas City for a three-game series against the Royals when it was announced that he had been selected to the field for the Home Run Derby in Atlanta. He met with a group of reporters before the game to talk about his excitement.

“I’m really, really happy, just because that’s what I do. I like to hit balls far,” he said through an interpreter. “I think I’m going to enjoy it a lot. They’ve been trying to get me into the Home Run Derby for the last couple years. Last year, I was coming back from an ankle injury and was not feeling that good at that time. But I’m in a good spot right now.”

But then someone asked him if he was concerned for the gaggle of kids that typically patrol the outfield during the Derby because of his hard-hit rate.

“That’s one thing that worries me a little bit,” he said in complete seriousness. “The last thing I want is for somebody to get hurt on the field, especially a kid during that competition. It worries me a little bit.”

His manager, Don Kelly, was simply excited about the rest of baseball getting to see the player he sees every day.

“Oh, man. I can’t wait to see him hit down there,” Kelly said. “He’s going to make Atlanta look small after seeing him hit (batting practice) down there last year and the year before. We’ve seen what he can do at (Pittsburgh’s) PNC (Park). He might be pushing 500 (feet) for sure.”

No one is sure if Kelly was actually predicting a 500-foot home run, but if he was…well, he was right. Cruz had nine of the top 10 home runs in terms of distance in the Home Run Derby, including a 513-foot blast that might still be rolling if it hadn’t hit a building.

That home run tied Aaron Judge for the longest ever in a Home Run Derby not held at altitude in Coors Field in Colorado.

Cruz hit 21 home runs in the first round, becoming the first Pirate to advance out of the first round in Home Run Derby history. That includes players like Bobby Bonilla, Barry Bonds and McCutchen.

Cruz hit a lot of line drives in the semifinal and only recorded 13 home runs, which allowed Cal Raleigh to advance with his 19 home runs. Raleigh would go on to beat Junior Caminero in the final with 18 more home runs.

Cruz has a lot of potential, and while he continues to struggle offensively after his impressive showing at the Home Run Derby, his future looks bright.

“He does have some maturing and development to take place at the big-league level,” said Cole Tucker, who played with Cruz in 2022. “But I like the talent that he has and the size and the leverage. The power that he generates is unbelievable. He’s such a nice dude. A good teammate.”

Certainly one worth rooting for.