One of the most promising Dominican rookies this spring is Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz. Last year he had a fleeting appearance with this team establishing the precedent of being the tallest defender of that position in history to participate in the major league. He is six feet seven inches tall. Despite that height, his defensive abilities are more than adequate, with a super powerful arm standing out.
His maximum potential is in the offense, he has shown that he can develop an excellent combination of speed and power. He recently made an incredible connection to a pitch that landed low on the plate and sent the ball out of the park. The feat evoked Vladimir Guerrero in his splendor. The team’s plans are to send him, at least in the first half of the year, to the triple-A level to continue developing him.
The prospect of displacing Pittsburgh shortstop owner Kevin Newman looks uphill. He shone defensively last season to the winger who only made three errors in 450 chances,
reached a fielding average of .993. A percentage of that level had not been achieved since 2016 when José Iglesias with the Tigers had .991 and in the annals of the major leagues only fourteen shortstops have achieved an average of more than .990 in a season. Among them Omar Vizquel got it four times and JJ Hardy three.
Newman also topped, according to FansGraph, the Departments of Defense and UZR, the latter measuring the range, with 11.9 and 6.4 respectively and posted seven DRS. He racked up 1.5 WAR defensively trailing only Trevor Story’s 1.6 in the NL. His problem is offense, a 56 OPS+ says it all. That number indicates that his offense was 44 points below average. His contribution to scoring is limited to the speed he develops at the base and the high frequency of making contact with the ball.
Due to the huge importance of the shortstop in the defensive aspect of the game, it seems that the best thing for Oneil Cruz is that he be transferred to another position in the short term.