Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz involved in deadly crash in Dominican Republic
By Sean Sears
Top Pittsburgh Pirate prospect Oneil Cruz was reportedly the driver in an accident that killed three people in the Dominican Republic.
The Pirates have high hopes for infield prospect Oneil Cruz, a 6-foot-6 shortstop acquired back in 2018 in a deal with the Dodgers that sent reliever Tony Watson to Los Angeles for Cruz and minor league arm Angel Guzman.
While Pirates fans were just starting to get excited about their young prospects, a report surfaced Tuesday morning that Cruz was involved in a car accident.
According to the Dominica Republic newspaper Dario Libre, the 21-year-old prospect was driving his Jeep when he hit and killed three passengers on a motorcycle Monday, two men and a woman.
shocking news coming out of the Dominican today. Dario Libre, a large newspaper in the DR is reporting that Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Oneil Cruz was involved in an accident last night that killed three people on a motorcycle. Cruz was "allegedly" driving https://t.co/bVy8evCe2R
— John Dreker (@JohnDreker) September 22, 2020
The Pittsburgh Pirates will provide more details after they gather more information in the accident involving Cruz
The Pirates have also acknowledged this situation, saying they would provide more details when they became available.
The Pirates have issued a statement on a tragic accident involving Oneil Cruz: pic.twitter.com/sk6CG9VIO5
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) September 22, 2020
But there doesn’t appear to be any indication alcohol was involved and Cruz is reportedly not injured from the accident.
Source says there is NO indication at this point that alcohol was a factor in the traffic inolving Oneil Cruz in the Dominican Republic.
— RobBiertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) September 22, 2020
A player with tons of raw power at a premium position, Cruz is currently the No. 3 prospect on the Pirates MLB Pipeline list of top 30 prospects and was expected to make his major league debut next season.
MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez wrote a great article about then 20-year-old shortstop and it was clear there’s plenty of buzz around Cruz, but after his accident, it’s hard to see Cruz making an impact for the Pirates big-league club anytime soon.
Cruz was expected to play Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic instead of the Fall League the MLB was putting together this year, but that seems unlikely now as Cruz will likely be dealing with legal matters the rest of the offseason.
The tallest shortstop on Earth is at it again.
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 14, 2019
Oneil Cruz picked up his third triple in 15 @AltoonaCurve games as a part of a 4-for-5 day at the plate.
Check out the 6-foot-6 phenom on the @Pirates Top 30 Prospects list: https://t.co/5Lzu81kWAB pic.twitter.com/246uxo7MOL
In four seasons in the minors, Cruz slashed .274/.335/..435 with 32 home runs and 160 RBI between low A to double-A. He was coming off an impressive 2019 season with a .832 OPS in 73 games between high A and double-A and looked primed to contribute in 2021.
No word yet on whether Cruz will face charges following this collision, but he is cooperating with authorities and an update should be coming soon.