20/20 vision: Oneil Cruz becomes 10th Pirates player to reach home run-stolen base milestone

Oneil Cruz already had eclipsed one mark and knew he was a home run away from reaching another, so he took a swing at the first pitch he saw from Cincinnati Reds left-hander Brent Suter.

When Cruz sent Suter’s slider 411 feet screaming to center field for his 20th home run, it put him in the company of nine other Pittsburgh Pirates — including three MVPs — with a 20/20 season of homers and stolen bases.

“Since I got back to the lineup (Thursday), I was trying to swing for the fences,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show, “and trying to get that home run to get it out of the way.”

Cruz, who turns 26 on Oct. 4, joined Barry Bonds and Andrew McCutchen by becoming only the third player in franchise history to have a 20-20 season at 25 years of age or younger.

“It’s an important milestone,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I don’t know how many guys in the last 50 years in the franchise have done it.”

Cruz became the 10th different Pirates player to record a 20-20 season, and the first since Starling Marte did it in 2018-19. Bonds has the most as a Pirate with four (1987, ’90-92), followed by McCutchen with three consecutive from 2011-13. Marte, Andy Van Slyke (1987-88) and Dave Parker (1978-79) all had two 20/20 seasons.

Parker, Bonds and McCutchen all did so during MVP seasons.

Cruz set his sights much higher in 2023, saying at the start of spring training that he had a goal of joining the 40-40 club. Only four players — Jose Canseco (1988), Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Alfonso Soriano (2006) — had accomplished that feat prior to that season.

But two have done so since, as Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. won the NL MVP last year after hitting 41 homers and stealing 73 bases and Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani on Thursday became the first player in major league history to go 50/50.

What made it special to Cruz is that he reached the 20/20 milestone a season after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured left ankle, which caused him to miss all but the first nine games in 2023.

“It means a lot, for sure, especially (after) I’ve been through a lot health-wise, with my ankle,” Cruz said. “To be able to accomplish that and help the team somehow to those numbers means a lot to me.”

For the 6-foot-7 Cruz, swiping 22 bags meant more than hitting 20 homers because it showed that he still has the speed to be a danger on the basepaths.

“Definitely the stolen bases,” Cruz said. “Coming from ankle surgery and trying to be myself again running-wise, like I was the year prior to the injury, it’s a lot to accomplish for me as a baserunner.”

If not for his late August position switch to center field, Cruz also would have become the first Pirates shortstop to have a 20-homer season. Instead, Cruz remains tied with Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan for the franchise record, with 19.

Shelton was as impressed that it came against a lefty, which was a focus of improvement for Cruz this season. He entered the game with a career .203 batting average against left-handed pitchers but was hitting .228 against them this season. And he was batting an MLB-best .509 (27 of 53) against first pitches entering Friday’s game against the Reds.

“Left on left, to be able to get it on the first pitch, he continues to take strides forward,” Shelton said.

Cruz’s last stride was a memorable one, as he beat the throw by Elly De La Cruz on a grounder up the middle for a leadoff single in the ninth inning. Cruz reached third on McCutchen’s single to right and scored on a single to left by Joey Bart to cut it to 8-2.

“I was going to go hard either way,” Cruz said. “That’s a ball that went to his glove side to the middle of the diamond, I knew I had a really good chance to make it to first base and beat throw. I just gave him a laugh because we’re good friends.”

And, given that De La Cruz has 24 homers and 65 steals, they’re now both members of the same club.