The Pittsburgh Pirates are making a big change regarding highly-touted young shortstop Oneil Cruz.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton announced Monday that Cruz will see time in center field for the remainder of the season. Cruz has never played the position during his professional career, but the Pirates are clearly checking out some of their options as their season winds down.
Derek Shelton announced during his pregame presser that Oneil Cruz will start seeing time in center field.
— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) August 26, 2024
Cruz came up as an infielder and has played shortstop almost exclusively at the MLB level. While he has an outstanding throwing arm, his fielding metrics are relatively poor, and a 6’7″ shortstop always felt like an odd fit. An outfielder that size is also quite unusual, but defensively, he might work better out there.
Cruz is hitting .265 with 18 home runs and 17 stolen bases on the season. The Pirates will want that bat in the lineup, so they will do some positional juggling to make it happen.
