Oneil Cruz

Oneil Cruz (born August 28, 1999) is an American professional baseball shortstop in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. He played college baseball at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and was selected by the Pirates with the 32nd overall pick of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.

Cruz signed with Pittsburgh on June 12, 2018 for a bonus worth $2 million dollars. He made his professional debut that same season with their rookie-level team in Bristol, Virginia where he hit .241/.309/.444 over 11 games. In 2019 he split time between two Single-A teams; Greensboro Grasshoppers and West Virginia Power hitting a combined .269/.352/.441 over 52 games before being promoted to High-A Bradenton Marauders at midseason. That year he also participated in three Arizona Fall League games as part of Salt River Rafters roster but did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for any statistical leaderboards or awards during his tenure there..
In 2020 Cruz started off playing for Double-A Altoona Curve until early July when he received another promotion to Triple-A Indianapolis Indians; this came despite him having only 58 career Minor League Games under his belt prior then due mainly because of injuries suffered throughout previous seasons which limited him from accumulating more consistent statistics across different levels within minors.. During 2020 regular season campaign while playing both Double & Triple A ball respectively, Oneil batted combined average of .257/303/384 slash line along 37 walks vs 48 strikeouts ratio alongside 5 home runs plus 20 stolen bases all together..

Despite still being young age wise(just 21 years old), scouts around majors already consider him one potential future starting shortstop even suggesting that if given right opportunity & proper development could become fine MLB player down road especially considering how raw talent possesses regarding defense skillset such as range , arm strength & fluidity moving side ways up middle infield area .. For now it looks like 2021 season will be very important one coming ahead specially after COVID 19’s pause back earlier last summer since it will mark 1st full healthy minor league routine ever experienced by Dominican native so far thus making much easier task analyze true value provided out field once reaching ultimate stage someday soon