Former MLB GM Boldly Predicts Historic Season For Pirates Star

Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Oneil Cruz

Former MLB GM Boldly Predicts Historic Season For Pirates Star originally appeared on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Add SportsNet Pittsburgh as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a fantastic start this year, including center fielder Oneil Cruz. He's helped fuel their 9-6 start with his sizzling bat, which has already produced five home runs, 13 RBI and a .339/.400/.644 batting line.

Cruz has been aggressive on the bases, too, with six steals in seven attempts.

While Cruz faded last year after a similarly hot start, former MLB Jim Bowden believes this one is for real, especially given his dramatic improvement against left-handed pitching.

In fact, Bowden wrote in The Athletic on Monday (subscription required) that he thinks Cruz will go 30/30 this year.

"Cruz hired a left-handed batting practice pitcher this offseason to improve his ability to hit left-handed pitching and it has paid dividends already. He’s batting .471 versus lefties with three home runs and has an 11-game hitting streak. He had a huge weekend in Chicago and is now batting .339/.400/.644 overall with five homers and six stolen bases in 15 games," Bowden wrote.

"A lot of the pressure has been taken off of Cruz now that the Pirates have a much deeper lineup that includes veteran bats like Brandon Lowe and Ryan O’Hearn and the game’s best prospect, Konnor Griffin," Bowden added. "Last season, Cruz passed the 30-stolen base threshold with 38 steals. Repeating that performance on the base paths and getting to 30 homers for the first time seems well within reach, as long as he stays healthy."

Bowden's right that Cruz has a lot more help this year and doesn't have the expectation to carry the Pirates' lineup this year. That's seemingly taken a lot of the weight off his shoulders, allowing him to unlock his superstar potential.

Cruz led the NL with 38 steals last year, but he's never hit more than 21 homers in a season. He'll need to enjoy a significant power surge this year to reach 30/30, but that's certainly possible in his age-27 season.

If Cruz does get there, he'll become just the second player in franchise history to do it, joining Barry Bonds. Bonds did it twice during his first two MVP campaigns in 1990 and 1992, so it's been a while since a Pirate joined the club.

As long as Cruz stays healthy, he has a realistic chance at joining him, perhaps as soon as this year.

More MLB: Pirates Ace Paul Skenes Explains Unique Mound Presence