'I'm going to swing it hard': Pirates SS Oneil Cruz producing eye-popping exit velocities

When he came to the plate with the Pittsburgh Pirates trailing the Milwaukee Brewers by three runs Tuesday night, Oneil Cruz had one thought on his mind: “I’m going to make one swing. Whether it’s a hit or home run, I’m going to swing it hard.”

Upon contact, another thought crossed his mind: “Home run.”

The 6-foot-7 rookie shortstop crushed a changeup by 2021 Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes, the ball traveling 408 feet to straightaway center for a tying three-run homer that sparked a 5-3 win over the NL Central-leading Brewers.

“My mindset is to never really care about who’s pitching or who’s on the mound,” Cruz said through translator Mike Gonzalez. “To be honest with you, my mind has always been, ‘See the ball, hit the ball hard.’ It doesn’t really matter who’s on the mound. I don’t really try to focus on that. I just to make sure I see a good pitch and swing hard at it.”

The most startling thing is it wasn’t anywhere close to Cruz’s hardest hit of the week.

Cruz’s hard swings are translating into hard hits, at a rate never before seen by a Pirates player since the start of the Statcast era in 2015. Only 39 games into his major-league career, Cruz already owns the top two hardest hits by a Pirate since 2015 and four of the top five this season, all clocked at exit velocities of 112.9 mph or faster.

Cruz set the standard with his first major-league hit in his debut last Oct. 2, a single to right field that registered 118.2 mph. He bettered that mark Thursday with single in the third inning that was clocked at 118.4 mph (then he got caught stealing second). Owning a pair of hits with 118 mph-plus exit velocities puts Cruz in the company with elite power hitters Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso, Shohei Ohtani and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The exit velocity isn’t the only impressive statistic on the Cruz missiles. In the seventh inning of Wednesday’s 8-7 walk-off win over the Brewers, Cruz smashed a two-run homer that had an exit velocity of 113.9 mph and sailed 434 feet before bouncing off the roof of the bar in center field.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton was impressed that Cruz, who’s batting .188 in left-on-left matchups this season, connected on Brewers lefty reliever Brent Suter’s first-pitch sinker.

“It was really loud coming off his bat,” Shelton said. “Once he hit it, it was just about where it was going to land.”

Although he’s batting .219 with 51 strikeouts and eight walks, Cruz has eight home runs and 27 RBIs in 37 games this season and is providing a power presence the Pirates desperately need.

To put that in perspective, Pirates rookie outfielder Jack Suwinski had 14 homers and 25 RBIs in 72 games before being sent to Triple-A Indianapolis. Cruz ranks fourth on the Pirates in RBIs, trailing Bryan Reynolds (34), Michael Chavis (33) and Ke’Bryan Hayes (32) despite playing in less than half as many games.

The Milwaukee series sweep was a breakthrough for Cruz, who learned a hard lesson when he made a pair of costly running gaffes against the Philadelphia Phillies last weekend. He bounced back in a big way, going 4 for 11 with two home runs and five RBIs and slashing .364/.462/.909 for an eye-popping 1.371 OPS in three games.

Now, Cruz has a new goal: He wants to put one over the roof of the bar.

“Of course,” Cruz said with a smile. “I’m trying to hit it even further out.”

Cruz knows all it will take is one hard swing.