Oneil Cruz One Game Away From MLB History After Hot Start

Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Oneil Cruz has lived up to his preseason hype so far in his young MLB career. Although he's only played six games over the last two seasons, the 6-foot-7 shortstop has driven in a run in each of those contests. Now, he stands one game away from history.

According to the MLB's Twitter account, an RBI in Cruz's seventh career game would tie the American League/National League record. Whether or not he achieves that feat, there's no doubting that Cruz has injected some much-needed excitement into Pirates baseball.

Pittsburgh Pirates News

After recording nine home runs and 35 RBIs while batting .232 in 55 games with Triple-A Indianapolis, the Pirates, the Pirates called up on June 20. Since then, the 23-year-old infielder hasn't looked back.

Although his slash line isn't glamorous (.222/.222/.333), he's still recorded two doubles and seven RBIs while only striking out three times in 18 at-bats. His 16.7% strikeout rating is well below the Major-League average (22.9%) and his fielding percentage has remained perfect.

Cruz's hot start is a small sample size, but there's no denying that he's one of the top young players to watch. Few prospects boast of his combination of size and skill, making him a unique individual who'll, no doubt, grab the baseball world's attention in no time. Recording an RBI in his next game would certainly be one way to accomplish that.

Oneil Cruz NL ROY Odds

He may have only played four games so far this season, but Cruz is already a frontrunner for the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year race. FanDuel Sportsbook has him in a three-way tie for top odds (+450) with San Diego Padres starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore and Atlanta Braves outfielder Michael Harris.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.