Oneil Cruz’s Big Blast Impressive for Many Reasons (+)
During Sunday afternoon’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Miami Marlins, a particular at-bat stuck out.
That was the Oneil Cruz vs. Sandy Alcantara showdown.
Looking at this matchup on paper, one would assume Cruz would have been severely outmatched. Nothing against Cruz; it’s just that Alcantara is one of the best pitchers in the major leagues and the National League City Young award favorite and Cruz is a rookie.
Yet, Cruz took Alcantara deep for on a 99.4 MPH fastball up and in. The ball traveled 414 feet.
A little (recent) history was made with the Cruz homer. It became the second hardest pitch hit for a home run by a Pirates player in the Statcast era (2015). Jordan Luplow has the No. 1 spot with his home run off the Marlins’ Tayron Guerrero’s 100.3 mph fastball in 2018.
The biggest part of the Cruz home run wasn’t about hitting it off Alcantara (although it’s impressive). What was impressive was the in-game adjustment he made. Every pitch to Cruz was inside, and all but two (changeups) were some sort of fastball (sinker, four-seam).
Cruz showed progression by adjusting within the at-bat and showed a competitive edge against Alcantara, who gave up a total of six homers all season before Sunday.
“[Cruz’s] homer was really impressive because [Alcantara] doesn’t give up a lot of homers or make mistakes,” said Pirates manager Derek Shelton. “It’s important for Cruz’s development to make sure against guys like Alcantara who have the best stuff in the game; he gets good swings off on.”
The importance of Cruz “figuring it out,” is a big part of the Pirates’ future success, and if the Bucs have any shot of making a run of things soon, they will have to see those little things Cruz did Sunday. Fouling tough pitches off, being selective, adjusting to the inside pitch, laying off tough breakers, this is what Cruz did in that at-bat.
Although Cruz still needs plenty of development, it was an encouraging sign for the Pirates to see him get that big swing off against Alcantara and not look lost against a pitcher who may have a Cy Young in his trophy case come November.
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