The goals ofoneil cruzThey are as tall as him.
As a rookie, the Dominican hit 17 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 87 games during 2022. That same pace, in a full season, would give him 32 homers and 19 steals, numbers that could easily earn him many MVP votes. But Cruz, someone who rarely lacks confidence, wants more.
“I am looking for 30-30"Cruz said, “or 40-40 this year. But what’s going to be in my control is playing hard and putting on a good show for the people who come to Pittsburgh to see me play.”
In the century-and-a-half long history of Major League Baseball, only 43 players have entered the 30-30 club. And only four are members of the 40-40 club: Barry Bonds, Cuban José Canseco, Alex Rodríguez and Dominican Alfonso Soriano.
But with Cruz, a truly unique talent who has already made his mark on the game, no goal seems out of reach.
“I would never put any kind of ceiling on him, I know that very well,” Pirates hitting coach Andy Haines said. “You’re looking at a player who has a chance for greatness, and we’ve already seen glimpses of that.”
Cruz’s unmatched combination of power, speed and height has been well documented. He set the Statcast-era record for hardest-hit ball (122.4 mph) in the 54th game of his career. His connections’ average exit velocity (91.9 mph) ranks in the 91st percentile, and his barrel rate of 15.5% ranks in the 96th percentile. 98 speed in sprint. When it comes to tools, the only player comparable to Cruz is Shohei Ohtani.
However, the tools alone will not be enough for Cruz to achieve his demanding goals. Cruz finished last season with a 34.9% strikeout rate in 361 plate appearances, ranking in the first percentile for strikeout rate and fourth percentile for blank swing rate. Among the 277 hitters with at least 300 plate appearances, only Chris Taylor (35.2%) and Joey Gallo (39.8%) struck out more often than Cruz.
Like so many others, the shortstop may have struggled getting to the highest level of the game, but he clearly adapted to major league pitching as the season progressed.
In his first 43 games, Cruz hit .209/.254/.424 with nine home runs, for a wRC+ of 85 (15% below average). He struck out 35.5% of the time and swung 38.3% of the pitches outside the strike zone.
In his next 44 games, Cruz hit .254/.328/.474 with eight home runs and a wRC+ of 124 (24% better than average). His strikeout rate improved a bit (34.4%), but the rate of out-of-zone pitches he swung at dropped to 27.6%.
“Everything comes with experience,” Cruz said. “At the beginning of the season, I was throwing bad pitches. I tried to do too much. Then, as the games rolled on, I started to become more of a major leaguer and started to make adjustments, and not throw as much at pitches outside the strike zone.”
Added Haines: “I was studying how the pitchers were trying to attack him. The way he would come to work every day and challenge himself and how he prepared, and he was on a mission to improve… if you combine that with his level of talent, well, it’s very exciting to dream about what he could achieve. ”.
