Oneil Cruz isn’t Perfect, but He’s Nowhere Near the Pirates Biggest Issue Either

8-2-24 – By Gary Morgan – @garymo2007 on Twitter

When a baseball team starts looking more good than bad, even if only by slightly, the microscope tends to start being trained on guys who used to be almost untouchable.

It’s been hard to complain about Oneil Cruz because even when he isn’t producing, every at bat presents an opportunity to impact the game. He can be 0-4 entering the 9th and he’s still probably one of the guys you want up there with the game on his bat.

Oneil is 25 years old and he was originally signed by the Dodgers back in 2015. I know by now everyone knows how he became a Pirates player, acquired in exchange for Tony Watson, but I really want to stress how long he’s been at this whole becoming a professional baseball player thing.

He progressed fairly normally, and remember when he was coming up there were short season Single A level teams, so he had to roll through West Virginia too.

Next to nobody thought he’d stick at short stop. This was a kid who shot from 6′ 1″ to 6′ 6″ in a Summer. He’d played SS, and his growth spurt gave people pause but he was insistent that he wanted to try to stick there.

It was a story every year thereafter. Would this kid stick there? Nobody that tall sticks there, right?

And in my mind anyway, it never became something they felt strongly enough about to move him because while he makes errors he also makes plays nobody else in the organization possibly could. The good side always at least balanced the scales with the down side, and nobody who could do even 75% of what he does ever emerged to push him aside.

His defense is almost like his strikeouts. Both can be ugly and both can make him look at times like a guy who simply doesn’t belong at short stop or the middle of the lineup. Neither have ever bee able to outweigh the good side of what he brings.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to tell you his defense or his strikeouts are things you should just ignore. I’m certainly not saying they aren’t an issue. Ultimately he’s a good player, actively being held back from every moving to great because he has these 2 things that prevent him from getting over the top.

So let’s break this thing into some categories and discuss it through those buckets.

Criticizing Cruz

Before I get into this one too deep, let me start here, there are actual terrible people in the world. I know, shocker right?

Some people really are racists and they for whatever reason have decided Latin players are dumb, lazy, don’t care, and they almost assign these things to them like it’s their job to prove they AREN’T any of those as opposed to starting out with the assumption all that crap is false.

There are right wingers in this country who probably really do want to start a Civil War, and there are left wingers in this country who probably really do want to completely change to Socialism.

The vast majority of people though, they don’t think like this. Certainly not in these extremes. Someone saying that Cruz looks “aloof” in the field after making a mistake, well, I’m sorry, that doesn’t automatically make them racist, it makes them someone who can’t understand for the life of them why you’d laugh after dropping a pop up or making a bad throw. Don’t look now but some of his teammates don’t really enjoy it either.

So “why is he smiling? He just made an error” to some, I think unfairly, equals, why does this dumb Dominican have to act like his mistake is funny, F him and all Dominicans.

Bottom line, sometimes it’s just a frustrated fan, who expects more from a guy who is supposed to be one of their team’s best players. You can tell the difference if you’re honest but how would you tell everyone how awesome you are online if you didn’t point out something that has a chance to be bad. It helps if you don’t already have your bristle up and mind made up that it’s all over the place and rampant.

He deserves to get criticized. We need to be able to let it happen. We need to stop making fans afraid to even approach it so they don’t get put in a group they have nothing to do with.

I have said Henry Davis is a guy who is trying too hard, looks like he’s thinking too much in the batter’s box. Essentially thinks he can try his way into things that need to come as second nature.

Nobody called me racist. I wonder why. Now say the same things about Cruz, wait 10 minutes and read all about just how racist and ignorant you are, you dog whistling a-hole.

We have to stop this crap, and not just in baseball. All we’re creating is completely locked out “sides” to damn near every issue where you only speak openly to those you know agree.

I’ll step back from the pulpit now, but know this, Cruz is a lot of things, stupid and uncaring aren’t two of them. He takes this stuff hard, even if he doesn’t make the “right” face when it happens on the field.

Does this look like a kid who’s OK with how he performed on Wednesday night?

The clip of Rowdy Tellez talking with Oneil Cruz after Cruz's 3 error game. #letsgobucs pic.twitter.com/l03CZrVcdG

— Bridge to Buctober Podcast (@bridge2buctober) August 1, 2024

I believe in you, we can do this, let’s be adults and talk baseball without trying to have it indicate who you’re voting for shall we?

Why Not Move Him Now?

20 errors isn’t fun, especially at a premium position defensively on a team built on the strength and efficiency of their pitching.

But…

You don’t truly want to see this kid moved to a new position in-season. Nor would the team consider it seriously.

Cruz is an athlete and he probably could play several other positions but not without training. Training that would eat into his time to improve and maximize his offensive capabilities.

I’m going to use a new player to illustrate this a bit. Brian De La Cruz has been in the league since 2021, in that time he played 370 games in the outfield, 247 in Left, 88 in Right, and 73 in Center, a seasoned MLB outfielder right? Can we agree there?

He has a big arm, can make the throws from everywhere.

Still, what did I hear from team officials? Yup, you’re right, there is at least concern about him moving to Right Field at PNC Park. The angles, the chain link bounces, the non-existent foul territory, all of it.

So if you play for the Pirates and they want to try you in the outfield, with PNC Park’s dimensions, they’re going to try to stick you in Right. Left is huge, Center is harder anywhere, and Right while tricky, offers the least scary place to give it a shot. I don’t see them doing this during a playoff run.

Could they use some of their superior fielders and have Cruz DH a bit more? Probably. I love Andrew McCutchen but if he needs to sit against right handed pitchers, OK. I’m just to the point where I think just about every way I could go about getting his glove off the field only help marginally and that supposes we go from an error a week pace to theoretical zero.

Not to mention, now you have to sit Cutch, and while he too is far from the perfect DH, he’s also still very likely one of the best 9 hitters on their roster. And no, Andrew in the field isn’t a thing, and it’s not the team being weak, it’s Andrew not being capable of recovering from what it does to him physically.

Lastly, He’s played 184 games at SS at the MLB level, the equivalent of a full season of baseball. A .948 Fld%, 38 Errors. He’s also played a total of 195 games with 806 Plate Appearances, more than a standard MLB season of course but not by much.

His 162 game average looks like this right now, 670 PA, 30 2B, 30 HR, 96 RBI, a .242 AVG, .755 OPS, and an OPS+ of 111.

People, this isn’t the Greek tragedy we’re making it out to be. If any player ever screamed be patient, I’m not sure you’ll find one louder than Cruz.

Thing is, at 25, best case scenario is he sticks at SS for the next several years and is ultimately moved in an effort to keep his body right. Eventually you’ll get your wish, and then you can crow all you like that you were right way back when.

Who Would Play SS Better Right Now?

Better? Meaning fewer errors?

Lots of guys. Jared Triolo, Alika Williams, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, but after that, anyone else would be just as much of a bet.

Out of this group none of them have his range or arm. I said less errors, not superior fielder in every way. More sure handed? Yup, I can find that. Less prone to compounding mistakes into a trainwreck of mistakes? Yup, I’d put money on all 4 for that.

Point is, if your only goal is to improve the defense and not worry about the bat, you can do it.

But who the hell would do it?

Conclusion

Oneil Cruz earns criticism because more is expected out of him than other players. You can’t practice whataboutism because there are very few players who line up with him. Certainly none on this team.

He’s playing his first complete season in MLB, following an almost completely lost to injury season. An injury, he’s still not 100% back to normal from.

The strikeouts are a problem, the inconsistency is too. His glove leaves much to be desired, but he’s been better than most want to admit.

Cruz is larger than life, and he’ll always be someone who draws attention to himself. Yes, because he sometimes acts silly, or aloof, but also because he’s a physical freak capable of doing things 99% of the league can’t.

You don’t look at a team like this and presume you can afford to just flippantly replace what he does.

1. They won’t pay for anyone established who is capable
2. His bat has a premium ceiling and happens to be performing above MLB average by a good measure near his floor
3. The Pirates don’t have anyone making this an even interesting conversation

As your team improves, try to resist the urge to start pretending you can swap out an affordable player that does what he does, you and more importantly they probably can’t.