Pittsburgh Pirates Oneil Cruz will officially miss the rest of the 2023-24 MLB season after fracturing his left fibula in April.
Pirates team manager Derek Shelton announced during a radio show appearance that the 25-year-old player will not return this MLB season to give him time to recover from his injury, CBS Sports reported.
This would later be confirmed through the Pirates' player development Twitter account.
Oneil Cruz will continue his rehab and turn his focus to next season. All indications are that he will be healthy and ready for a normal Spring Training in 2024. #LetsGoBucs pic.twitter.com/1P7U0HSTty
— Pittsburgh Pirates Player Development Report (@PGHplayerDev) September 12, 2023
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It was an unfortunate development for the Dominican professional player who had hoped to return at some point to help the Pirates this MLB season. Unfortunately, his recovery suffered a setback after Cruz experienced left soreness while running on a treadmill.
Cruz revealed the unfortunate setback but remained optimistic about his potential return to MLB action, MLB.com reported.
"You don't want it to happen, but it's normal with the kind of surgery we had to have a little bit of a setback," Cruz stated. "But we're optimistic that we're going to go back out again and do our best to get back as soon as possible."
Oneil Cruz ran out of time, appearing in just nine games for the Pirates this MLB season, ESPN reported. It was a huge letdown for the 25-year-old who finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year award voting last season.
In 98 career big-league games, he's batted .237/.302/.449 (108 OPS+) with 19 home runs and 13 stolen bases (on 17 attempts).
Pirates progressing without Oneil Cruz
Cruz has been relegated to being a cheerleader for the Pirates, who are three games up the St. Louis Cardinals, good for fourth place in the National League Central.
The Pittsburgh Pirates currently have a 45.8 winning percentage, their best mark since the 2018 MLB season.
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