MLB analyst sounds alarm on Pirates’ Oneil Cruz’s perceived lack of effort as major concern in long run

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to slump this season, and star shortstop Oneil Cruz's "effort" has been called into question.

Cruz was removed from Tuesday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers after seemingly slowing down on a scoring opportunity, leading to a double play to end the seventh inning.

While Cruz acknowledged his mistake, saying he thought they were two outs in the inning, MLB analyst Dalton Feely believes it's part of an alarming trend, pointing to his defensive error against the Texas Rangers on Friday.

He said on "Baseball Today" on Wednesday (7:00 onwards):

"I'm mad at Oneil Cruz, and I think the biggest reason why is it's a little bit of a boy who cried wolf. I'm not saying O'Neil Cruz lied about forgetting how many outs there were in a situation, but we've kind of seen O'Neil Cruz have some effort issues in the past too.

"I think Don Kelly at this point has got to lay down the law... There are so many minor leaguers who would crave to be in the spot Oneil Cruz is, so I get he's physically gifted, but that said, play your heart out."

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Pirates interim manager Don Kelly pulled Cruz in the eighth inning and replaced him with outfielder Alexander Canario in center field.

Oneil Cruz backs Pirates manager's decision after being pulled from Brewers game

Following the 9-3 loss, Oneil Cruz acknowledged his mistake and backed the manager's decision to pull him from the game.

“I accepted it really well,” Cruz said. "Just because we have two guys here, [Andrew] McCutchen and Tommy Pham, who are really good examples. They always run hard, they always go out there [and give] their 100 percent, and that's a teaching point for me. I accepted it the way DK came to me and explained and presented it.”

The Pirates shortstop had a strong start to the season, but his form has declined over the last two months. Cruz is batting .205 with 13 home runs after the series finale against the Brewers.

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