When Kevin Newman and Cole Tucker both hit the injured list this week, it appeared to be a clear path for the Pirates to promote their top prospect, shortstop Oneil Cruz, back to the majors.
That didn’t happen, and after Tucker was activated off the COVID-19 injured list Saturday, it doesn’t appear that such a promotion is coming soon.
Cruz, 23, has struggled at the plate for Class AAA Indianapolis thus far, slashing only .188/.300/.304 with one home run and a 30% strikeout rate thus far, but 18 games doesn’t invalidate the years of good results and development Cruz has had to emerge as one of the top minor-leaguers in baseball. That includes a torrid 2021 season, where he slashed .310/.375/.594 with 17 home runs and 19 stolen bases in 68 games between Indianapolis and Class AA Altoona.
So why is he still in the minors?
“He’s working hard, as everybody is in Indy,” Ben Cherington said on the field of PNC Park Saturday. “We feel like he’s progressing. He’s really important to us. We want to do our job to try to put him in a position to be as successful a big leaguer as possible when it’s his time. Sometimes that means really spending a little bit of time working on things in the minor leagues. That’s where he is now.
“We care about him. We keep track of him every day. We expect he’ll continue to work toward the targets that we’ve laid out for him. If he does, he’s super talented. He’ll have a chance to help us a lot up here.”
Cherington said there were offensive and defensive targets they are looking for Cruz to hit before a promotion. On Saturday, he cited swing decisions and making consistent contact as areas they are looking at. Towards the end of spring training, defensive versatility and improving as a fielder at shortstop were discussed as goals they would like to see.
Defensively, Cruz has played 15 games at shortstop and two in left field. Both areas have been a particular weakness for the Pirates this season, who rank 29th in baseball in terms of shortstop WAR, according to FanGraphs (-0.4) and last in outfielder WAR (-1.2).
Team necessity wasn’t going to rush him to the majors, though.
“Even when it’s less popular, we feel like we have a job to do to put him in a position to develop to be the best possible player and most impactful major league player long term that we possibly can,” Cherington said. “We just felt like at this time, there’s important work he’s doing in Indy. That’s the right spot for him right now.”
Cruz himself has hinted at some personal frustration that he is still in the minor leagues, reposting Instagram posts from fans to his story questioning why he isn’t with the major-league team.
✍️✍️✍️ pic.twitter.com/8SKy5Ckei5
— Jake Crouse (@JakeCrouseMLB) April 27, 2022
Cruz has been in the minor leagues long enough that if he was to be promoted, he would not accrue a full year of service time unless he finished in the top two for rookie of the year.
The decision to not promote him is development-based, and this has been one of the few snags results wise during Cruz’s career in the Pirates’ organization. And while people are antsy to see the Pirates’ promote their top prospect, Cherington emphasized that development is not always linear.
“It’s not always gonna be a straight line,” Cherington said. “There’s gonna be left-hand turns and right-hand turns. We believe in the players we have and believe if we continue to create the right environment around them and put resources in front of them that will lead to good things. Then we’ll see them in Pittsburgh doing special things.”
