Oneil Cruz Injury Update: Pirates star hits wall in lengthy recovery process, at risk of missing rest of season

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been without one of the most exciting players in baseball for months in second year player Oneil Cruz. He broke his leg sliding into home on April 8, and has been away from the field since then. It was expected he would be out of action for quite awhile, but there was hope he would return this season.

These hopes are now beginning to fade, as Cruz seems to have hit a wall in his recovery. Leg injuries can be very tough for players to come back from, but Cruz has a few advantages on his side. He is still young and extremely athletic, which hopefully means he will be making a full recovery.

Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette provided the details of the recovery process, along with a reccomendation, on Twitter.

"Oneil Cruz hasn't been running in 7-10 days. Has been experiencing some pain/discomfort. Would need a sizable rehab assignment. It's almost September. Yeah, shut it down. He's way too important" - Jason Mackey

It is hard to disagree with this assement. With only a little over a month remaining in the season, the Pirates are 12 games under .500 and well out of the playoff race. The safer course of action would be to shut him down and start gearing up for the 2024 campaign.

A healthy Oneil Cruz could be a superstar in MLB

Prior to his injury, Cruz was showing flashes of absolute brilliance, offensively and defensively. His power swing seems to come so naturally and his athletiscm led to highlight after highlight on defense. Division rivals Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs certainly won't be happy to face him in 2024.

His 2022 highlight reel had fans fired up for his 2023 season, which was unfortuntely cut far too short.

"If Oneil Cruz's 2022 highlight reel is this. What does he have in store for us in 2023?" - MLB

If Cruz can become a top star in MLB like many think he can, the Pirates will be the big winners.