The 2026 World Baseball Classic is underway, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have a handful of players participating in the tournament. For the Dominican Republic, center fielder Oneil Cruz has been one of the stars of the show in the early going, as he kicked things off with a mammoth home run on Friday night.

Cruz has become a bit of a divisive player for Pittsburgh. He has all the talent in the world, but he’s fresh off a sorely disappointing 2025 campaign. However, Cruz has looked like a man on a mission ahead of the upcoming season, as he smoked a 450-foot home run in the DR’s 12-3 victory over Nicaragua to open the tournament.

While Cruz led the National League with 38 stolen bases last season, his numbers at the plate left a lot to be desired (.200 BA, 20 HR, 61 RBI, .676 OPS). When Cruz makes contact with the ball, it often goes a long way, but it’s going to be important for him to find a way to get on base more in 2026.

Hitting home runs is always a good thing in baseball, so if Cruz can do that a bit more this upcoming season, it would certainly go a long way as well. Cruz will look to continue putting together some good at-bats for the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic before he returns to the Pirates, where he will look to help them make some noise in the NL Central division.

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