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Pittsburgh Pirates Star Oneil Cruz to Compete in the MLB’s Home Run Derby

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It’s batter up for Oneil Cruz. 

The 26-year-old Dominican professional baseball center fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who made headlines over the weekend for an inspiring high-speed throw, has accepted an invitation o compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.

Oneil CruzCruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the MLB All-Star Game.

The others are Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, James Wood of the Washington Nationals and Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins.

“I’m really, really happy just because that’s what I do,” Cruz said ahead of Tuesday night’s game at Kansas City. “I like to hit balls far. I think I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”

Cruz, 26, is known for having a powerful bat and regularly delivers some of the hardest-hit homers.

His home run May 25 at home against the Milwaukee Brewers had an exit velocity of 122.9 mph and was the hardest-hit homer in the 10-year Statcast era. 

But Cruz has never hit more than 21 in a season, and that was in 2024. He’s on track to set a high this year and has 15 in 80 games.

“They’ve been trying to get me in the Home Run Derby for the last couple years, but last year, I was coming back from an ankle injury and was not feeling that good at that time,” Cruz said. “But I’m in a good spot right now.”

Cruz has 55 career homers in 324 games with the Pirates.

Cruz will be the first Pittsburgh player to participate in the Derby since Josh Bell in 2019.

Other Pirates to be part of the event were Bobby Bonilla (1990), Barry Bonds (1992), Jason Bay (2005), Andrew McCutchen (2012) and Pedro Alvarez (2013).

“Oh, man, I can’t wait to see him hit down there,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “He’s going to make Atlanta look small after seeing him hit [batting practice] down there last year and the year before. Just really excited for him and the opportunity he’s got to go be a part of that.”

Overall, Cruz is batting just .203 this season but leads the National League with 28 steals.

Among the players to turn down an invite to the eight-player field are two-time champion Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies and 2024 runner-up Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.

Defending champion Teoscar Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers recently turned down a spot as a consideration to nagging injuries.

Top power threats Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers also are expected to skip the event.

Abreu Earns MLB Player and Rookie of the Month Honors in July

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It’s turned out to be a July to remember for Jose Abreu…

The 27-year-old Cuban professional baseball player, a first baseman for the Chicago White Sox, has been named both player of the month and rookie of the month for July.

Jose Abreu

It’s Abreu’s third rookie of the month award this season and it’s the second time that he has won both honors in the same calendar month, achieving the same feat in April, when he made his MLB debut in massive style.

Abreu makes history with the honors… No one in baseball has ever won both awards in the same month twice in one season, and Abreu became just the fourth player to win the rookie honor three or more times in a season. Ichiro Suzuki won it four times in 2001, Mike Trout won four in 2012 and Jason Bay won three in 2004.

Much like his style all season, Abreu was pretty modest about his latest honors.

“I don’t really like to talk about myself a lot but I am surprised (at the accomplishments),” Abreu said through an interpreter. “I wasn’t expecting to have all this success and definitely all these awards. But, you know, I am very thankful that it happened. I just continue to go about my day the same way and continue to work on my routines.”

Abreu batted .374 in July with 11 doubles, six home runs and 19 RBIs in 25 games. He also had a .432 on-base percentage and a .667 slugging percentage all while dealing with lower back discomfort toward the tail end of July.

He not only hit safely in 24 of the 25 July games, he led the American League in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS (1.099), extra-base hits (17) and total bases (66).

“It’s not surprising; you’re happy for him,” manager Robin Ventura said. “He’s had a great month and he gets rewarded for it. The kind of teammate he is makes it better. Guys are happy for him.”

Despite missing 14 games this season while on the disabled list with an ankle issue, Abreu leads the major leagues in home runs (31), RBIs (84), slugging percentage (.627), at-bats per home run (12.29) and at-bats per RBI (4.54).

He’s on pace to hit 45 home runs and drive in 122 runs. Mark McGwire has the rookie record for home runs with 49 in 1987.

“I don’t know that anyone really envisioned this,” Ventura said. “When you saw and heard the ball coming off his bat (during spring training) you understand his power and things like that. You probably allowed for a little more inconsistency going through your first year of seeing pitchers and knowing the type of pitchers you’ll see every day are pretty dang good. You don’t really envision the numbers you’re seeing, but once you see him, it can make sense.”