BRADENTON, Fla. -- Oneil Cruz's smile said more than his words ever could.
Last season, hitting coach Andy Haines told me that he had never seen a rookie pitched more carefully than Cruz. Sure, he was new to the league, but the league was well aware of his record-setting exit velocities and power.
So at his locker at Pirate City Thursday, I asked if he liked that pitchers are already so scared to go over the heart of the plate against him. The way he beamed as interpreter Stephen Morales translated the question was the real answer, and it's a resounding yes.
"They don’t throw the ball over the plate because they know I have power and can do some damage with one swing," Cruz answered. "But I’m going to try and stay in the strike zone where I know I can do damage."
Everyone knows he can do damage on pitches in the zone. It's why he has lofty expectations for himself offensively this season: 30 homers and 30 steals, if not a 40-40 season. In 87 games last year, he homered 17 times and stole 10 bases. Even though he went through some obvious growing pains, he was still on pace for 30 homers and almost 20 steals over the course of a full season.
"The one [goal] that is going to be under my control this year is to go play hard and put on a good show for the people who go out to Pittsburgh to see me play," Cruz said.
If Cruz does hit his numerical goals, it would be historic. There have been only four shortstops in major-league history to post 30-30 seasons: Barry Larkin (1996), Álex Rodriguez (1998), Jimmy Rollins (2007) and Hanley Ramirez (2008). Rodríguez is the only one in that group who reached 40-40, and only three other players are in that club: José Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996) and Alfonso Soriano (2006).
He is just now entering his first full year in the majors, and the goal is to make history. What's even more telling is it seems like a real possibility.
I mean, anyone who produces this thwack of the bat has to have big-time power:
— Alex Stumpf (@AlexJStumpf) February 15, 2023
Being able to do that consistently is going to help him take that next step, though. And there are still two clear areas that he needs to continue to grow: His defense and the pitches he swings at.
The latter got better as last year progressed. While he did have an uptick in chases at the end of the year, he was much more selective in the second-half of his major-league season than the first. Here is what his average 10-game chase rate was last year, and there is a telling drop:
FANGRAPHS
"I tried to do too much," Cruz said. "Then through the season, as the games went on, I started becoming more of a big league player and started making adjustments, not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone as much. That gave me success at the end of the season."
Those chases in the first half caused slumps and gave pitchers a chance to pick on him with breaking balls. That's not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to his development arc. It was a learning experience.
"It couldn't have worked out any better for Oneil's career trajectory," Haines told me. "It just showed him right away this is what major-league pitching is going to do to you and these are the problems they can do to you. And the solution for Oneil, it's not an easy solution by any means, but it's very simple — because of his talent level, he covers so much of the zone, it's stay on attack in the strike zone, especially early. We know they want you to chase.
"The challenges for Oneil are not different than any other hitter right now because of how pitchers are attacking hitters... They're just a lot more magnified."
Due to last year's lockout, Haines did not get much time to work with Cruz before the regular season started. As they became more familiar with each other, Haines developed a message for Cruz to follow: "You have to hit a mistake or you have to walk because they're not going to challenge you in the strike zone on purpose." To fully realize his offensive talent, he's going to need to do that.
To fully realize his defensive talent, he's going to need to cut down on the errors.
Last year, Cruz had the highest average velocity on competitive throws of any infielder (93.9 mph, according to Baseball Savant). Those throws were often wild, and his 10 throwing errors were tied for the fifth-most in baseball. Again, that was only in about half a season. It's why there's usually speculation that he could eventually transition to the outfield.
Well, that's not happening. At least not yet.
"We view him as a guy that’s going to play shortstop for us," Derek Shelton said. "He’s always going to be a little bit of that unicorn because there’s nobody that big playing in the middle of the diamond. I think the fact that people are starting to look at him as a shortstop is a really positive sign."
Cruz would routinely take extra reps on both offense and defense, coaches would say, though he still did not grade well defensively. Mendy Lopez was added to the staff as an infield coach this winter to try to get to the heart of the issue.
And right now, it looks like what's tripping up the 6-7 shortstop is his footwork.
"Mainly, it’s a footwork thing because the one thing that height does provide is having to move his feet and get himself underneath him," Shelton said. "The other factor that he’s going to continue to learn and grow on is he throws as well as anybody in the game and he’s got a weapon there with his arm. As you’re learning the major-league game, at times when you get rushed, you try to rely on that. I think we saw a couple of his routine errors last year where he just tried to rely on his arm and he can’t do that."
"That’s why the footwork and being able to do that is still going to be so important. It’s going to be a focal point of what we’re working on during the spring."
Cruz has heard people speculate that he can't play the position because of his height. He's not that concerned with what they say. He's back trying to prove he can do it.
"I’ve been working hard at it, at the stuff I needed to work on to be better," Cruz said. "I’m doing the same thing right now. It’s non-stop. I’m going to continue to do that. Get better every day."
The Pirates have plenty of middle infielders in camp right now, ranging from Cruz's friend and preferred double-play partner Rodolfo Castro, to utilitymen Ji Hwan Bae and Tucupita Marcano, to prospects like Liover Peguero and Nick Gonzales. All of them are in some level of competition so they can be the guy who pairs with Cruz as the team's other starting middle infielder.
For Cruz, it means that while he has yet to realize his lofty goals, he has the runway to be a special player. Perhaps even historic, if he meets those expectations he's placed on himself.
"It’s an honor for me coming up from being a prospect to now be one of the main guys on the team," Cruz said. "I’m going to continue to work hard to keep myself with the club and help the club win down the road."
