If you took Oneil Cruz to a tryout camp, the scouts would go crazy.

They would marvel at how hard the Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder hits a baseball. Their jaws would drop watching him make high-velocity throws. They would triple-check their stopwatches after timing the 6-foot-7 Cruz in a 60-yard dash.

Cruz is the ultimate tools player. He has enough physical attributes to fill a toolshed.

Of course, scouts have a different opinion when they watch Cruz play in a game. They wonder if he will ever learn the nuances of the game and give full effort every night so he can turns his tools into consistent production.

Time will tell if that ever happens.

Yet it is very intriguing that Major League Baseball has invited Cruz to participate in next Monday night’s All-Star Home Run Derby at Truist Park. He is made for the event.

Cruz hits the ball as hard and far as anyone in baseball, and the derby is decided by raw power. The hitters don’t have to worry about chasing sliders in the dirt or getting caught off balance by changeups.

All the contestants must do is hit as many home runs off batting practice fastballs as possible within their allotted time. Cruz can do that as well as anyone.

Cruz isn’t even in the top 40 in home runs in the major leagues after hitting his 16th of the season on Tuesday night in a 4-3 loss to the Royals in Kansas City. However, 10 of those 16 are considered “no doubters” by MLB’s Statcast, meaning those would have been home runs in any of the 30 big-league ballparks.

Cruz’s no-doubter percentage is 62.5.

Cruz’s homer on Tuesday night off Seth Lugo was a no-doubter as it traveled 458 feet and had an exit velocity of 115.6 mph. Cruz’s average exit velocity of 96.1 mph leads the major leagues.

By comparison, just 14 of 36 – 38.9 percent — of longballs hit by MLB homer leader Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners have been no-doubters. Raleigh will be part of the derby along with the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr., the Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton, and the Washington Nationals’ James Wood.

The derby has not been kind to the Pirates over the years. Not only has no Pirate ever won the event since its inception in 1985, but no one has come close since Barry Bonds in the early 1990s.

Jason Bay had an embarrassing goose egg in 2006 in Detroit. The last Pirates player to participate was Josh Bell in 2019 in Cleveland, and he did get past the first round, though he may have hit the highest popup in Progressive Field history.

Cruz’s primary problem as a hitter is making contact. He has a .203 batting average and an MLB-high 114 strikeouts in 347 plate appearances.

However, there aren’t strikeouts in the derby, and they also don’t compute a player’s batting average in the event. It’s just one belt-high 70-mph fastball after another.

All you need is the ability to hit balls long and far, which is why Cruz, the ultimate tryout camp player, should make things interesting next Monday night in Atlanta.