Ben Cherington will be the first to sing the praises of Oneil Cruz and immense talent of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospect, yet the last to apologize for prioritizing his development over his promotion.
When the Pirates lost two shortstops this week — Kevin Newman to a longer-term left groin strain and Cole Tucker to a four-day stint on the covid-19 injured list — the Pirates general manager raised eyebrows when he left the 6-foot-7, 220-pound Cruz at Triple-A Indianapolis.
“He’s really important to us,” Cherington said Saturday at PNC Park. “Even when it’s less popular, we feel like we have a job to do to put him a position to develop to be the best possible player and most impactful major league player long term that we possibly can. 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, 23, ranked the No. 14 prospect by Baseball America, dazzled in his major league debut last October but was cut in spring training after hitting two home runs in five Grapefruit League games. He’s batting .188 (13 for 69) with three doubles, one triple, one home run and eight RBIs in 18 games at Indianapolis.
When Tucker and All-Star center fielder Bryan Reynolds were placed on the covid-19 IL Tuesday while awaiting test results, the Pirates promoted infielder/outfielder Tucupita Marcano and outfielder Jack Suwinski from Double-A Altoona because both were on the 40-man roster and only had to make a two-hour drive from Akron. Rookie Diego Castillo was scheduled to start his fourth consecutive game Saturday.
Cruz received an endorsement from Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who has played shortstop in late innings this week. Hayes noted that Cruz hit a walk-off homer in the 11th inning Sunday for Indy.
“It would be awesome,” Hayes said. “I’m sure everyone would love to see him up here. We love him. He’s a really good guy. His baseball talent speaks for itself. … I hope he’s up here soon. That would be great.”
Cherington apparently is in no hurry with Cruz. Asked to explain why Cruz wasn’t considered, Cherington pointed to the need for development in both his swing decisions — Cruz has 24 strikeouts and 10 walks — and his pitch-to-pitch focus at both shortstop and in the outfield.
“We feel like he’s progressing,” Cherington said. “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 credited Cruz for meeting the goals the Pirates set for him last season, which prompted his promotion from Altoona to Indianapolis in mid-September and to the Pirates for the final two games of the regular season after he hit five homers in six games at Triple-A.
Cruz recorded the hardest-hit ball (118.2 mph) by a Pirates player since the start of the Statcast era in 2015 on his first major league hit. Then Cruz nearly dropped to one knee on an 0-2 changeup to connect for his first home run, a 408-foot blast to right field.
With a Gold Glove finalist in Newman returning at shortstop and a number of middle infielders who could play second base or shortstop in Castillo, Michael Chavis, Hoy Park and Tucker, the Pirates preferred to have Cruz play every day in the minors to work on his weaknesses.
Cherington is willing to endure criticism to ensure Cruz succeeds.
“To win at the level we want to win in Pittsburgh, we’re gonna need a lot of players on the field doing special things,” Cherington said. “There’s a path toward that that’s not always a straight line. Our job is to try and put the resources in front of players to give them the best possible chance to do those special things long-term in Pittsburgh. It’s not always gonna be a straight line. 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.”
