Oneil Cruz sent a gift from Paul O'Neill

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Oneil Cruz looked at the box with childlike wonderment.

As he sat down in the PNC Park press conference room on Tuesday, he put his ear to the sealed package and shook it a couple times. The box was light. There was no banging, no clanking.

He grabbed the pair of awaiting scissors and methodically sliced the tape on the top of the box, then one of the sides. Instead of ripping the box open, he peered inside. When he realized what the box contained, he quickly slammed the lid shut in disbelief. He collected himself, then ripped the box open to reveal its contents: a signed jersey from Paul O’Neill, the ballplayer of whom his name derives.

A week after the two met via FaceTime at Yankee Stadium, O’Neill had a little something extra in store for Cruz, a gift that the 23-year-old was not anticipating. Cruz plans to frame the jersey back home in the Dominican Republic and place it “somewhere everyone can walk in and see it.”

“I really didn’t think it was a jersey,” Cruz said through team director of communications Melissa Strozza. “I thought it was something else.”

O’Neill found out he was the inspiration for Cruz’s name several years ago. The five-time All-Star has heard stories of pets being named after him, but never a newborn.

“I actually thought that somebody was joking because it’s not something that happens,” O’Neill said. “You’re always honored that someone took a liking to the way you played. The story of his father loving the Yankees, I thought that was cool. Then, when I saw the type of prospect that he was, I mean, this is going to be fun for me to watch for years to come. His talent is unbelievable.”

O’Neill has yet to watch Cruz play a Major League game in-person, but he has quickly become a fan of Cruz’s game.

“Tool-wise, he’s hit the hardest ball known to man at this point. He’s throwing a ball over 98 miles per hour from shortstop. He’s 6-foot-7, 220 pounds and he’s only going to get bigger and stronger as he gets older,” O’Neill said. “The things he’s capable of doing, you kind of project where he’s going to be. It should be an amazing story. He has so much talent. He’s getting an opportunity with a team that’s not real successful now, but he’ll blossom into something. Hopefully, that’s who they’ll build that team around.”