Oneil Cruz has given the Pirates something they badly needed this season: real damage against left-handed pitching.
That alone marks a major shift from where things stood a year ago. At this point last season, Cruz was a player people were wondering whether Pittsburgh should move on from. He still had all the tools, but the cracks were obvious after a career-worst 85 wRC+.
When he has been available this year, the results have looked nothing like that version of Cruz. Even with a fractured hand costing him a lot of time, he’s hitting .267/.360/.479 with a career-high 128 wRC+. The biggest reason for that jump is what he’s done against southpaws.
Cruz used to look overmatched by left-handed pitching. Entering 2026, he owned a career .172/.247/.313 line against same-handed pitching, and his .560 OPS made him look like a clear platoon candidate if he could even keep a spot in the lineup.
Now he’s doing the opposite of surviving those matchups. He’s crushing them.
Through 102 at-bats against lefties, Cruz is hitting .294/.349/.471 with four home runs. His .842 OPS against southpaws matches his OPS against right-handers, which is a striking turnaround for a hitter who had been stymied there for so long.
The problem is what comes attached to that breakthrough. Cruz’s strikeout rate against lefties is an ugly 40.6%.
That’s the kind of number that puts the whole thing in danger of being a mirage. Cruz is always going to whiff a lot; that comes with the territory when you’re dealing with a swing that generates that much force and a frame with such long levers. The payoff is power, and the Pirates can live with the strikeouts if they don’t get out of hand.
A rate north of 40% is out of hand.
There’s also the matter of the sample size. 106 plate appearances against lefties is not much to build a full verdict on, which cuts both ways. It could mean the strikeout rate is inflated. It could also mean the good results are still vulnerable to collapsing.
The Pirates’ broader numbers against left-handed pitching show why this matters so much. They’ve been much better offensively overall than last year, helped by veteran left-handed bats like Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn.
Against right-handed pitching, Pittsburgh owns the second-highest OPS in baseball at .757. Against lefties, that mark drops all the way to .683, which ranks 25th.
Even with Cruz’s surge, the club still hasn’t been consistent enough against left-handed pitching to make it a real strength. That makes adding a couple of true lefty mashers a clear priority.
If Pittsburgh can do that and Cruz keeps punishing southpaws, the offense could be in a much better place in 2027.
In Other News...
Paul Skenes Just Made This Pirates Win Feel Even Bigger
Paul Skenes kept the Pirates latest win from feeling like just another tidy one-run result. In his first career start against the Angels at PNC Park, the rookie right-hander worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowed four hits and struck out two, giving Pittsburgh exactly the kind of steady night it needed in a game decided 1-0. He mixed in a sinker that got him outs and twice reached better than 98 mph, adding the sort of power look that keeps a lineup honest even when the strikeout total stays modest.
For Skenes, there was a little extra layer to the matchup, too. He grew up as an Angels fan, which made facing Los Angeles in Pittsburgh a notable backdrop for one of his sharper outings of the season. The Pirates needed every clean frame he could supply, and he delivered them with enough command and velocity to make the win feel more meaningful than the final score alone might suggest. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Just Created A New Opportunity Fans Will Want To Watch
The Pirates made a late roster tweak ahead of their series finale against the Angels, recalling outfielder Ronny Simon from Triple-A Indianapolis and sending utility man Nick Yorke back down. It is the kind of move that can look minor on paper but carries a bit more intrigue for a club still sorting out how to make the most of its bench and daily lineup.
Simon brings the sort of flexibility managers tend to value in September-style roster churn, with the ability to handle multiple outfield spots and serve as a switch-hitting option at designated hitter. Yorke had only recently gotten a look with Pittsburgh, but the decision to option him opened the door for Simon to get more playing time with the current group, giving fans another name to watch as the Pirates mix and match their way through the final game of the set. [Read more 🡒]
Pirates Fans May Not Get The Ben Cherington Decision They Want
The Pirates late-season slide has again put Ben Cherington under the microscope, even though the front office is not operating as if a change is imminent. Cherington is under contract through 2027, and that alone gives Pittsburgh a built-in layer of protection at a time when the club entered 2026 talking about playoffs and instead found itself dealing with another familiar downturn.
For fans hoping the end of the season would bring a clean verdict on the general manager, the timing may not cooperate. There is already speculation that Cherington could remain in place beyond 2026, and a looming MLB labor dispute could complicate any decision-making even further, leaving the Pirates in a holding pattern while the disappointment on the field keeps growing. [Read more 🡒]