Oneil Cruz is giving the Pirates a reason to believe the best version of him is still ahead. The 27-year-old has opened the season tied for second in the National League in home runs, and his numbers against left-handed pitching have jumped to 7 for 11 with three homers and a 2.091 OPS.
That is a sharp turn from last season, when Cruz went 11 for 108 with one home run and a.400 OPS against lefties. Manager Don Kelly credited his offseason work and his determination to stay in the middle of the field when facing southpaws, a change that appears to be paying off in a very specific way: against left-handed pitching, Cruz is no longer an automatic out.
The Pirates have long believed Cruz can be a 30-home-run threat over a full 162-game season, and the early power spike fits that idea. He already matched and passed the kind of impact he showed in 2024, when he set a season-high with 21 homers. If the current split against lefties holds, it would give Pittsburgh a middle-of-the-order bat it has been trying to unlock for more than one season.
But the breakout case is still incomplete. Cruz is slumping against right-handed pitching, his strikeouts remain high and the Pirates’ center field experiment with him is still not working. That matters because the club is trying to squeeze value from a player whose offensive upside is obvious, even as the defensive fit remains unsettled. The Pirates are also working through roster issues behind the plate, carrying four catchers on the 40-man roster while Brian Griffin is still looking for his first home run early in his Pirates career and Henry Davis has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, one defensive run saved and a 60% caught stealing rate early in the season.
That depth gives Pittsburgh options, and it could eventually move Joey Bart if Endy Rodríguez or Rafael Flores becomes clearly better behind the plate. For now, though, Cruz is the player most likely to change the shape of the lineup if his left-handed pitching surge proves real. The question is not whether he can punish mistakes; it is whether the Pirates can keep enough of the rest of his game together long enough for the power to matter over a 162-game season.
