You may have seen last night the video in which we see Oneil Cruz make a relay from the shortstop at a crazy speed.
Early in the game yesterday against the Cubs, the Pirates prospect (who was in his first game of the year and third in his career) made an out by throwing a ball at 96.7 miles per hour. No infielder has done better in 2022 in MLB.
So: ONeil Cruz has been back up for about 25 minutes. He’s already got the hardest tracked throw by an infielder of the season (96.7). I think that’s going to work. pic.twitter.com/0vOCbs6BVo
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) June 21, 2022
But that’s not all. Against the Chicago Cubs in a resounding 12-1 win, Cruz also drove in four runs, making it seven in three MLB games. He placed the ball in a safe place twice.
Standing six-foot-seven, the man many see becoming a long-term outfielder has set several records for the Pirates this season. Nobody hit harder than him and nobody ran harder than him, either.
3 innings into his 2022 debut, @Pirates‘ Oneil Cruz has registered:
🏴☠️The hardest throw by an infielder in @MLB this year (96.7 mph)
🏴☠️The hardest hit ball of the year by a Pirate (112.9)
🏴☠️The 3 fastest sprint speeds of the year by a Pirate (31.5, 30.7, 30.3) pic.twitter.com/nScTK5mD4A— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 21, 2022
Why wasn’t he in the Majors before? Because the Pirates made him start the season in the AAA by asking him to play in the outfield a few times. He refused, not understanding that today players have to show versatility.
He finally accepted, but he started his season badly. This cast a shadow over his situation and the Pirates left him thinking down a bit. But there, he is ready, if we look at his match yesterday.
Is he in MLB to stay there? If he continues to play like this, we can believe that yes, the Pirates will keep him at the top.
And that’s good.
- Aaron Judge wants players to express themselves through their cleats.
- Daniel Robertson at the Phillies.
- The last game of the World Series had better ratings than the last game of the NBA Finals.
Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen (finger fracture) continued to ramp up baseball activity in Chicago on Monday — he hit off a tee and played catch.
— Arden Swelling (@ArdenSwelling) June 20, 2022