Pirates may never have a better chance to extend Oneil Cruz than they do right now

For years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have been waiting for Oneil Cruz to emerge as a cornerstone to build around. After last season's massive step back, it seemed as if that might never happen. My, what a difference a year makes.

Cruz has done a complete 180 in 2026, looking like the Silver Slugger-caliber bat that the Pirates have been dreaming about. This isn't a case of luck, either. Cruz has taken his ridiculous bat speed and the resulting hard-hit rates and improved his bat path so that he's hitting the ball at better angles. His launch angle sweet spot percentage has risen from a 16th-percentile performance a year ago to a 59th-percentile mark in 2026.

There's still room to grow, but the difference is clear. The six-foot-seven freak has raised his slugging percentage by 100 points, jumping from .378 to .478, while coming in just one homer shy of last year's 20, despite playing 46 fewer games this season.

Another major improvement for Cruz has been his performance against left-handed pitching. The 28-year-old entered the season with a .560 OPS against southpaws. However, in 2026, he's punished them to the tune of an .826 OPS.

That puts Pittsburgh in an interesting position. Cruz has now shown that he's worthy of building around and thus is a prime extension candidate, but with that said, the club is on the precipice of him pricing himself out of the budget.

Oneil Cruz is about to get a lot more expensive for the Pirates as his second-half surge continues

Cruz hit the ground running this year, slashing .256/.321/.512 over the season's first month. He followed that up with a good, but not great, May, hitting .255/.339/.409. It was all very encouraging, even taking May's power drop-off into consideration.

Then June happened. It was just five games before Cruz suffered non-displaced fractures in the fourth and fifth metacarpals of his left hand, but over those five games he hit .400/.591/.600. The question would be whether or not such an injury would derail his progress.

Meanwhile, the Pirates saw his value during the time he was laid up on the IL. The team posted a 26-32 record without the budding star, and his absence is a big reason why Pittsburgh is essentially eliminated from the NL wild card chase.

When Cruz returned in August, that lift he experienced in the beginning of June proved to have staying power. Over 26 games since coming off the IL, he's hit .295/.391/.495 with five homers, including the historic blast that set the franchise record for single-season team home runs.

This development is what presents us with the reason for urgency. A version of Cruz that's producing an .800-ish OPS is one thing, but a version of the super-sized slugger that's putting up 30-30 seasons and MVP-caliber performance is another.

The longer Pittsburgh waits, the harder a deal will be to get done. Not only will they have fewer arbitration-eligible years to buy out to keep the price tag down, but if he truly emerges as a superstar, he'll be prohibitively expensive and more inclined to test the open market.

The Pirates have spent all this time waiting for the breakout; now they have to respond to it with an aggressive but fair extension offer before it's too late.

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