Welcome to In The System, our new daily analysis of the latest throughout the Pirates' organization!
Each morning, we'll spotlight an individual player or performance from the previous day/night, in addition to offering convenient links to find all the information anyone could want on Class AAA Indianapolis, Class AA Altoona, high Class A Greensboro and low Class A Bradenton throughout the season.
Player: Oneil Cruz
Position: Shortstop
Bats/throws: Left/right
Age: 22
Size: 6-7, 210 pounds
MLB organizational rank: 4
Affiliate: Altoona
Just a few days ago, Cruz made himself the featured item in this series. Turns out, he was in the midst of a monster week. On Wednesday, Cruz recorded his first four-hit game since Aug. 13, 2019 and matched a career high with four RBIs while swiping three bases and lifting his fifth homer of the season.
Cruz has hits in all but five of his 22 games for Altoona this season. He's presently riding a seven-game hitting streak, batting .440 (11-for-25) with three homers and 12 RBIs over that span. The first-inning blast was as impressive as any of the 37 minor-league homers he's hit throughout his professional career as he went with a 3-2 pitch over the outer half and drove it to the opposite field.
It'll be important for Cruz to prove that he can handle the pitching at this level, but, as was discussed in last Friday's ITS, his defensive shortcomings have been striking. So far, his .287 batting average and .906 OPS provide a lot with which to be excited.
Cruz added two more hits and an RBI since this tweet. https://t.co/h6vUkykPFD
— Gerard Gilberto (@Gerard_Gilberto) June 2, 2021
ELSEWHERE
• Santiago Florez will be a top 30 prospect in this system before long, and the 6-foot-5 right-hander had his best outing of the year Wednesday for Bradenton. The 21-year-old racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts while allowing just two hits and a pair of walks over six scoreless innings. Florez has a 1.52 ERA with 37 strikeouts over 23 2/3 innings in five outings this season.
• It's been an overall disappointing season for Ji-hwan Bae, but the 21-year-old infielder had a pair of hits and a walk and scored three times for Altoona on Wednesday. He is batting .220 with a .558 OPS this season. Bae, Cruz and Liover Peguero are among the Pirates' top middle-infield group at the prospect level. Peguero had a hit in five at-bats and drove in three runs for Greensboro on Wednesday.
• While Florez and a pair of Bradenton relievers -- Parker Brahms and Enmanuel Mejia -- yielded just two total hits in the game, the Marauders tallied just two hits of their own. The one that made the difference was Endy Rodriguez's fourth-inning solo shot. The 21-year-old backstop is batting .258 with five homers and 15 RBIs this year.
OFFICIAL LINKS
YOUR TURN: We'd love to hear from you, too, especially if you make it out to see any of these prospects and affiliates play. Feel free to file your own original scouting reports and other observations in comments.