Not only did Oneil Cruz arrive at spring training seemingly in — cue the spring training cliche — the best shape of his life, but he’s also sporting a new look in hope of rebounding from the worst year of his career.
The Pirates’ outfielder appears noticeably more muscular ahead of his sixth MLB season, while also swapping his signature dreadlocks for a shorter hairstyle.
Cruz went 1-for-3 with a single and a stolen base during a 6-2 loss to the Yankees on Monday.
“The season that I had last year, it was not my best season,” Cruz said during the offseason, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I went home and went right to work on the stuff that I was having trouble with last year and work on my body again. No time to relax. Just focus on what I need to do to get better.”
Cruz, 27, is preparing for a critical year after he performed like one of the worst hitters in the sport in 2025.
A career .233 hitter with a .734 OPS, he instead hit .200 with a .676 OPS across 135 games while striking out 174 times in 544 plate appearances (32 percent).
The .200 average ranked the lowest among 145 qualified hitters.
His 38 steals, though, matched Juan Soto for the most in the National League.
Part of Cruz’s offseason makeover included getting rid of his dreadlocks, which he reportedly featured going back to his days in the minors, but had been planning to move on from for months.
He FaceTimed with ex-Pirate and current free agent Andrew McCutchen to show him the shocking change.
“He said you look a lot better,” Cruz said via a translator, per the Post-Gazette. “And more handsome.”
That new look comes with seemingly added muscle, but the physical changes may not matter if Cruz can’t figure out how to be at least competitive against southpaws.
Cruz slashed .102/.224/.176 against lefties in 2025, striking out 44 times spanning 125 plate appearances (35.2 percent).
For his career, he’s just a .172 hitter against southpaws with a .560 OPS.
While there are plenty of players who have notable splits, being that unproductive can lead to young players landing in a platoon role that ultimately caps financial earning capabilities.
Monday’s game offered reason for optimism with Cruz singling in the first inning against Yankees lefty Ryan Yarbrough, although he struck out in his final two at-bats.
“Last year wasn’t a good year against lefties like the prior year,” Cruz said in January, per the Post-Gazette. “That’s what I was doing in the Dominican this year, facing a lot of live pitching against lefties just to get better at it. And go back to hitting lefties like I used to.”
Cruz also will need to improve his defense after a career-worst minus-14 defensive runs saved metric in 2025, a deep dip after just being minus-3 in 2024.
A rebound season would certainly help a Pirates team looking to finally contend in the Paul Skenes era and make some noise in the NL Central.
“Quickness, reactions to the ball, angles and all that. But also, the throws to the bases,” Cruz said in January, according to pittsburghbaseballnow.com.
“That was something that I struggled with last year, just because the arm action is different. I knew I had to get better at it. I worked on that a lot. I think I’m in a better spot right now.”