Home Run Derby to offer mental challenge for Pirates' Oneil Cruz

Todd Frazier was soon to close the book on an 11-year MLB career when, during spring training in 2021 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he remembered encountering a towering 6-foot-7 specimen from the Dominican Republic.

“When you see this guy come walking in, you’re like, ‘Ho-lee cow. Look at the size of him. Look at the shape of him,’ ” Frazier recalled of seeing Oneil Cruz for the first time.

Cruz made his MLB debut with the Pirates late in the year, appearing in two September contests, and Frazier played in 13 games that season, his last in the big leagues.

On Monday night, a reunion of sorts will take place between the two, as Cruz is one of eight participants in the 2025 T-Mobile Home Run Derby at Truist Park in Atlanta, and Frazier is serving as an analyst for ESPN.

Along with the Braves’ Matt Olson, Washington’s James Wood, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh, Minnesota’s Byron Buxton, Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, the Athletics’ Brent Rooker and New York’s Jazz Chisholm, Cruz will partake in the three-round event.

Olson was named as a replacement for teammate Ronald Acuna, who is dealing with back tightness.

Cruz’s own participation will need to be monitored into Sunday evening as the Pirates center fielder was not in the club’s starting lineup against the Minnesota Twins after being pulled late from Saturday’s game.

Manager Don Kelly told reporters after the game that Cruz’s exit was “more precautionary” and that he “felt a little something in the hip flexor area.”

The first round of the Home Run Derby features three minutes or 40 pitches to all eight contestants, followed by a bonus round that extends until three outs (non-home run swings) are recorded.

Then, the top four home run hitters from the first round advance to the semifinals, which takes on a knockout style, with the No. 1 seed battling No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3.

The semifinals winners match up for the Home Run Derby crown, awarded to whoever hits more balls out of the park in two minutes or 27 pitches, whichever comes first.

For Frazier, Cruz’s raw power makes him an ideal participant, and his record-setting exit velocity numbers may present an additional advantage.

“I’ve seen this guy in batting practice,” said Frazier, who won the Home Run Derby in 2015. “This guy can mash a baseball, and he can hit a really far way on a line-drive base. When you’re thinking about time elapsing, he’s going to have a lot more time because he hits the ball far away and on a line. You could see a lot more home runs.”

Eduardo Perez, serving alongside Frazier as an ESPN analyst for the Home Run Derby, echoed all his colleague had to say about Cruz’s physical tools.

And to be sure, those unique abilities will serve him well Monday evening.

However, Perez is particularly interested to see if Cruz, a first time Home Run Derby contestant, is capable of “putting it all together,” by harnessing the appropriate mindset and mental approach to enhance his pure baseball skills.

“With him, it’s also focus,” Perez, a 13-year MLB veteran said. “We’re going to find out, in this Derby setting, the focus. The power, the swing path, the ability to be able to pull the ball — he has all of that. We don’t have to worry about the swing-and-miss in the derby. That’s the beauty of this. Does he have bat speed? Check. Does he have the tilt in his swing? Check. Does he have the bat path? We can monitor all those things now, and he has all those.

“It’s the ability now of putting it together and focusing on this task that is a repetitious task. Let’s go back-to-back-to-back, the pacing, the setting. … I think it’s going to be an interesting derby for him.”

Cruz prepares for Home Run Derby competition with 16 homers on the year, lowest among the pack of participants.

Raleigh leads the group and MLB at 38, whereas Olson and Chisholm have both clubbed 17.

Though an argument could be made that by sheer home run totals, others would have been more deserving of an invitation than Cruz, for ESPN’s Karl Ravech, having the 26-year-old in the field is a no-brainer.

“From a guy that’s done this now going on 10 years, Oneil Cruz would have been on the top of every list that I had, of the guy I wanted to participate in the Home Run Derby,” said Ravech, who’s calling Monday’s Home Run Derby.

As Frazier can attest, once the Home Run Derby begins, anything can happen.

Though he had 25 homers at the 2015 All-Star break and finished the season with 35, he still had to contend with a field of sluggers that included Josh Donaldson, Manny Machado, Joc Pederson and Kris Bryant.

But Frazier persevered, winning the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship round all by one homer each.

July 13, 2015: Todd Frazier wins the Home Run Derby in front of the hometown crowd at GABP. #RedsVault x @FlavaFraz21 pic.twitter.com/KojSLfkTJN

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 13, 2025

Cruz may step into the batter’s box Monday as a darkhorse candidate, but there’s a distinct possibility he may be the first Pirate to ever win the event.

“This is why the Home Run Derby is so special: because you really never know,” Frazier said. “In 2015, I wasn’t the favorite to win. I had Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols and a couple other guys, to name a few. But I got into a groove on the stage, and away it went. The underdog plays here in the Home Run Derby, for sure.”