Pirates Announce Oneil Cruz News After 11 Missed Games

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Josh Valdez | Last updated Aug 26, 2025 4:29 PM ET

Superstar pitcher Paul Skenes (8-9, 2.07 ERA) gets most of the national attention on the Pittsburgh Pirates, but outfielder Oneil Cruz is hardly forgettable. The 6-foot-7-inch, 240-pounder's 122.9 miles-per-hour homer on May 25 is the hardest-hit ball in Statcast history, beating his own record by 0.5 miles-per-hour.

Cruz leads the Pirates with 18 homers in 108 games this season and is on pace to beat his career-high of 21 across 146 contests from last year. However, the 26-year-old hit a wall before landing on the IL with a concussion on August 13, as he's slashing just .122/.182/.244 in the month.

Pittsburgh announced an update on Cruz amid a flurry of roster moves before Tuesday's bout with the St. Louis Cardinals, via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Noah Hiles.

"Oneil Cruz has been activated off the IL and Dauri Moreta has been recalled from Triple-A," Hiles reported. "Ronny Simon was optioned to Triple-A and Andrew Heaney was designated for assignment."

Although the Pirates are in last place in the NL Central and 13.5 games out of a Wild Card spot, they did go 6-5 in Cruz's absence. Adding the young power hitter back into the lineup could help them finish strong after a trying season.

Roster moves:

Oneil Cruz has been activated off the IL and Dauri Moreta has been recalled from Triple-A.

Ronny Simon was optioned to Triple-A and Andrew Heaney was designated for assignment.
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) August 26, 2025

Nobody Hits Baseballs Harder Than Oneil Cruz

Before Cruz's homer on May 25, the hardest-hit ball in Statcast history was a 122.4 miles per hour single in 2022. Statcast, an advanced technology that uses high-speed cameras to track player and ball movements, was introduced into all 30 MLB ballparks in 2015.

Cruz's 2025 homer also broke Giancarlo Stanton's record for exit velocity on a homer, which was 121.7 miles per hour. Additionally, the slugger owned MLB's hardest-hit ball last season, which was 121.5 miles per hour.

On the other hand, Cruz must improve his contact hitting. The native Dominican is slashing just .207/.304/.398 this season and .237/.312/.434 in his career, which isn't enough to make him one of baseball's best players despite his exit velocity excellence.

If Cruz can upgrade that part of his game over the last five weeks of the season, it will improve the Pirates' outlook moving forward.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: