Pirates Moving Oneil Cruz From Shortstop to Centre Field
With just over a month remaining in the 2024 season, the Pittsburgh Pirates have decided now is the time for shortstop Oneil Cruz to change positions.
The 25-year-old, nearing the end of his fourth major league campaign, won’t play another inning at short this season and will move to centre field effective immediately, the Pirates announced Monday. He’ll serve as the DH – as he did a night ago – until he feels comfortable in centre.
Cruz has struggled mightily with his defence in 2024, committing 24 errors on the dirt – the second-most at his position, trailing only Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz (26). Additionally, he ranks 24th in outs above average (-3) and 27th in defensive runs saved (-8) out of 30 qualified big-league shortstops (min. 500 innings).
“I think as of right now, we’re looking at him as a centre-fielder,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton told reporters, including MLB.com’s Alex Stumpf.
On the surface, this appears to be more than just a temporary move for Cruz, who’s yet to reach his full potential despite featuring one of the most electrifying skill sets in the sport. At 6-foot-7, he’s among the game’s hardest throwers and most explosive runners, with many labelling him as a unicorn.
Both traits should bode well for him while transitioning to centre field. However, he has never played a single professional inning at that position outside of a pair of games during spring training in 2021.
“We really believe this is a huge opportunity for both him and our team,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “That’s our mindset. We believe that will be his mindset going into it.”
Cruz logged 80 innings in left field at Triple-A Indianapolis in 2022 before recording a single inning in the majors later that season. But he’s exclusively played shortstop since then.
Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of last month’s trade deadline, will move to the left side of the infield as part of this defensive shakeup. That frees up second base for Nick Gonzales, who returned from the injured list on Monday.
According to Cherington, the Pirates told Cruz about their decision to move him to the outfield on Sunday. While he was disappointed about changing positions, the club’s GM said he acted professionally and isn’t concerned that it’ll impact his on-field morale moving forward.
“We want to give him a chance to capture as much upside as possible and us as a team the chance to capture as much upside as possible by keeping him at a premium position for as long as possible,” Cherington said. “Shortstop was where that started. We felt coming into the year, [we wanted to see] if he can do this. If he can be an average defender at short or even better than that, there is massive upside for that.”
“We just feel like now we have enough information to believe there is a better chance to see that happen in centre field.”
The Pirates felt they waited as long as possible before announcing their final decision on Cruz’s future at shortstop. At the same time, some may question why they didn’t wait to execute this plan until next spring.
“We did not take this decision lightly,” Shelton said. “It wasn’t something that we just decided over the course of a night we’re going to do. We had conversations about it, but we felt that right now centre field was the best position for him.”
Moving to centre field could prove beneficial for Cruz. It’s been a massive success for San Diego’s Jackson Merrill, regarded by many as the front-runner for this season’s NL Rookie of the Year Award.
While fielding hasn’t been a strong point thus far, it’s been the complete opposite at the plate, as the former top prospect has produced career-highs in games played (117), hits (116), doubles (29), home runs (18), RBIs (63), walks (37), AVG (.265), SLG (.468), wRC+ (115) and fWAR (3.1).
On top of his counting metrics, Cruz has maintained his exceptional quality-of-contact results, ranking in the 96th percentile or higher in hard-hit rate (53.6%), barrel rate (16.8%), average exit velocity (94.9 mph) and average bat speed (78.3 mph).
The Dominican phenom, who isn’t eligible for arbitration until after next season, is under club control through the 2028 campaign.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Cbaile19. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.