Was Oneil Cruz Named After Paul O Neill?

Oneil Cruz was named after former New York Yankees outfielder Paul O’Neill.

Paul O’Neill was the favourite player of Cruz’s father, Raphael Cruz.

Raphael is a retired minor leaguer, and had trained his son in the game of baseball.

Who Is Oneil Cruz?

Oneil Cruz is a baseball shortstop who plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He was born on October 4, 1998, in Nizao, Dominican Republic.

Cruz was signed in as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015, making his professional debut the following year.

He had batted .294 with 23 RBIs in 55 games.

In 2017, Cruz was traded to the Pirates in exchange for Tony Watson.

Cruz made his MLB debut in 2021, after being added to the active roster. He went on to appeared in two Major League games in the same season.

In 2022, Cruz started the year with the Triple-A Indianapolis, where he was assigned to. He took part in more than five spring training games, batting .333 with two home runs.

Cruz made the hardest hit ball in the Statcast era on August 24, 2022. 122.4 MPH was the measured speed of the ball.