Mark Madden: Pirates' Oneil Cruz is an incredible talent but will continue to frustrate

On Sunday at PNC Park, Oneil Cruz hit a baseball 432 feet into the Allegheny River.

That solo home run was moving at 122.9 mph, the hardest-hit ball since exit velocity started being tracked in 2015.

Two innings earlier, Cruz’s throw from center field to home plate sailed to the backstop and allowed an unearned run to score. No word on how fast the throw was traveling. We just know it went too far.

The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 6-5. You do the math.

Cruz broke even. Breaking even doesn’t win baseball games. Cruz giveth but taketh away. (Cruz also struck out three times Sunday.)

Cruz is hitting just .238 and prone to severe inconsistency. He has struck out 64 times, sixth most in MLB. In mid-June, Cruz whiffed eight times in nine at-bats. (His ninth at-bat was not a hit.)

But in an effort to find something positive about these wretched Pirates, the usual suspects cast Cruz as a superstar.

Superstars don’t hit .238.

Cruz is on pace for the third 30/30 (home runs/stolen bases) season in Pirates history. (Barry Bonds did it twice.) That’s significant, even if the Pirates lose 100 games.

Cruz isn’t necessarily on the rise.

He’s 26. He’s no kid. Cruz’s peak likely isn’t much better than he is right now.

His baseball IQ is negligible. His focus comes and goes.

Cruz gets some slack because he switched from shortstop to center field less than a season ago. But home plate is in the same place it’s been since baseball got invented.

Cruz is an odd sort of phenom. He’s measured in mph, like a cheetah: His throws, his speed, the velocity of the balls he hits. Not tangible numbers that win games.

Does it matter how fast a batted ball travels? It seems a novelty act. You’d rather have a seeing-eye single dribble through the infield than a line drive at somebody’s glove.

Cruz hitting the ball harder than Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge doesn’t matter. Not even a little bit. It doesn’t make Cruz better than them.

Cruz doesn’t stink. Far from it. He’s an incredible talent.

He’s just an odd presentation.

Cruz has awesome dreadlocks. At 6-foot-7, he’s imposing. Almost intimidating.

The first of Cruz’s three arbitration years is next season. Cruz will be traded before he hits free agency in 2029. Perhaps he and Paul Skenes can share a private plane out of town.

Until then, Cruz will continue to frustrate. But only if you pay attention.

You don’t need to pay attention to know that Tommy Pham stinks.

He’s hitting .198 with zero home runs. His veteran leadership doesn’t appear to have kicked in, and it’s certainly not outweighing his lack of production.

Pham is 37. He should be DFA’d.

Andrew McCutchen is 38. He should play very sparingly, concentrating instead on his mascot duties.

Jared Triolo is hitting .136. He should be DFA’d.

Find out about younger players via more at-bats. Experiment with call-ups.

The Pirates stink. Look to the future.

The Pirates’ organizational plan isn’t concerned with winning. But do a better job pretending. Look like you have a plan, even if it’s hopeless.

Cruz is definitely better than Pham. Cruz hits rockets. Pham doesn’t often break the speed limit.