Pirates Activate Oneil Cruz From 60-Day IL

The Pirates have activated center fielder Oneil Cruz from the 60-day injured list and reinstated righty Yohan Ramirez from the paternity list. Lefty Hunter Barco and outfielder Ronny Simon have been optioned to Triple-A in a pair of corresponding 26-man roster moves. Pittsburgh will still need to make a 40-man move in order to clear a spot for Cruz, who’s been out since early June due to a pair of fractures in his left hand that were sustained on a play at the plate in Atlanta (video link).

The 27-year-old Cruz had a tough start to his season, going 2-for-14 with eight strikeouts while committing some glaring defensive gaffes within the first few games of the year. His glovework in center still doesn’t grade out well, but he’s more than atoned for those early faux pas with a huge showing in the batter’s box. Cruz homered twice on March 31 and effectively hasn’t looked back; in 268 plate appearances from that day through his injury, he slashed .271/.358/.492 (131 wRC+) with 14 homers, 10 doubles and 21 steals in 25 attempts.

Cruz strikes out far too often, as can be seen in this year’s 34.6% strikeout rate. His huge raw power, penchant for walks and big contributions on the basepaths help him to offset that propensity for whiffs, however. The towering 6’7″ infielder-turned-outfielder’s .379 average on balls in play is sure to regress as the season progresses toward its conclusion, but perhaps not all the way to the .289 league average. Cruz has elite batted-ball metrics, averaging a blistering 96 mph off the bat with a 16.4% barrel rate and outrageous 59.2% hard-hit rate. His knack for absolutely scalding the ball has helped him to a .320 BABIP through more than 1800 major league plate appearances.

Cruz has played six minor league rehab games. They haven’t gone that well, as can be seen with a glance at his results between Double-A and Triple-A: 3-for-22 (all singles), three walks, seven strikeouts. Pittsburgh has nonetheless seen enough to feel that his broken fingers are sufficiently healed.

Assuming he is indeed healthy, Cruz’s return should be a major boost to a banged-up Pirates lineup that has struggled to keep its best bats healthy this summer. In addition to Cruz, the Bucs have endured absences for Ryan O’Hearn, Konnor Griffin, Spencer Horwitz and Endy Rodríguez. O’Hearn, Griffin and Rodríguez are all still on the injured list; the latter just landed there late last week. Big production from rookie Esmerlyn Valdez and veterans like Bryan Reynolds and Brandon Lowe have helped the lineup stay afloat, but the Bucs have clearly felt the absence of big names like Cruz, Griffin and O’Hearn in particular.

Speedster Jake Mangum has been Pittsburgh’s primary center fielder in Cruz’s absence. He’s provided next to no power but has delivered a sharp .300/.351/.391 batting line on the season and played fine defense. With Cruz returning from the IL, he can cycle through the outfield/designated hitter mix alongside Valdez, Reynolds and Mangum. The Pirates, at 61-65, are buried in the NL Central but have a slim chance to push back into Wild Card contention with a late surge. They’re currently 6.5 games back of the Padres and Phillies, who are tied for the second/third Wild Card spots in the National League, though they’ll also need to leapfrog the Marlins and Cardinals while holding off the Reds (seven games out) and Nationals (seven and a half out).