Should Oneil Cruz stay at shortstop?

Superman or super bad? Cruz missile or that Cruz ship has sailed? What to do about Oneil Cruz… one of life’s greatest questions.

A question as old as the day is long has been surrounding the Pirates Oneil Cruz since the day he was drafted; should he stay at shortstop? I think it’s fair to say there are two trains of thought regarding the oversized infielder and where he should play. One side regards Cruz as an athletic anomaly who given his flashes, could come around and be a solid infielder. On the other hand, there are those who think that given his athleticism, he’d be better suited in the outfield and have seen too many mistakes from Cruz at short.

In this situation. I’m trying my best to be as honest and transparent with my take as possible, while also considering both arguments. On paper, Cruz isn’t known to be a great defender. In 2024, Cruz has a fielding percentage of .938, which amongst all NL shortstops that qualify ranks 10th… which is also last. In all of baseball, there is no shortstop with a lower fielding percentage than Cruz. He’s also committed 21 errors, which ranks second highest amongst all shortstops. Needless to say there are some holes in his game.

It’s also worth mentioning that Cruz is maybe being underutilized in the infield, considering his great athleticism. Unless Paul Skenes or Aroldis Chapman are on the mound, Cruz has the strongest arm in the field, and it’s not even close. The king of shattering stat cast records recorded the fastest infield assist with a 97.8 MPH laser to first base. Could you imagine Cruz in right field? It’d be a good way to hide some of his defensive shortcomings, and when a play needs to be made, we know his cannon of an arm could easily get it done. Even in the event that he does need to make a tough play, he’s plenty fast sprinting for a fly ball as well.

Of course there are members of the fanbase that still think Cruz should be kept at shortstop for what he does do well. Obviously we know Cruz can make tough plays with his incredible arm strength and incredible sprint speed, but he’s also got a range that most typical shortstops do not. Standing at 6’7” with an enormous wingspan, Cruz towers over his contemporaries and therefore has an advantage getting to hit balls that may be out of reach for many other defenders.

It’s also worth mentioning that mastering one position in baseball is already difficult enough, while learning another brand new one could further halt the development of a struggling defender like Cruz. Obviously it’s not impossible, but maybe it’s a headache that’s worth avoiding.

Given the pros and cons on both sides, I understand why fans feel the way they do. There has been plenty of times where it looks like Cruz has no clue what he’s doing out there, and then once you think you’ve seen enough of him struggling, he makes a Superman effort to dive out and catch a fly ball or throw an absolute dart to get the runner out at first.

With that being said, I’m leaning towards the idea of Cruz switching to the outfield. I think he could become a better defender and maybe even grow into an average shortstop, but I think there’s just too much wasted potential not having him in right field. The perfect example of this working is a guy like Fernando Tatis Jr., who greatly benefited from a position change. His athleticism and strong arm proved to be more valuable at right field than shortstop, and he’s become a more capable and explosive defender as a result.

Oneil Cruz is not your average ballplayer. He has all the physical tools to be a force some where in the field, and I don’t know that letting him struggle and “figure it out” at short is the solution. It’s clearly affecting him mentally, when he should be trying to lock in at this point in the season. No easy task, no easy solution, but I do believe that while the flashes of greatness are nice, there is so much more to be seen from Cruz and he would benefit from a change of scenery.