Pirates To Call Up Top Prospect Oneil Cruz

June 20, 2022 4:01 am

PITTSBURGH — The Pirates will call up shortstop Oneil Cruz, the No. 22 prospect in baseball as well as outfielder Bligh Madris, manager Derek Shelton confirmed following Jack Suwinski’s three-homer performance on Father’s Day. “Now’s the time that we think [Cruz] can help us,” Shelton said. “We’ve talked about a lot of things developmentally. There’s still things we’re going to continue to work on, but we think now’s the time that he’s going to help us.” There has been speculation that Cruz would be called up at some point during this homestand, but the flames were only further fanned when he was left out of Triple-A Indianapolis’s lineup for its game on Sunday.