Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz accepted an invitation Tuesday to compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta.
Cruz is the fifth player to commit to the competition, held one day before the 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.
Information from Field Level Media and The Associated Press was used in this report.