Two months in the past, I checked in on Oneil Cruz, the middle fielder. Issues weren’t precisely going properly. The Pirates shifted Cruz from shortstop to middle on the finish of the 2024 season, and the early returns had been so discouraging I felt the necessity to write concerning the experiment simply 17 video games into the 2025 season. Right here’s the place the numbers stood at that time:
Cruz is presently sitting on -8 DRS, -2 OAA and FRV, and -0.1 DRP. Amongst all outfielders, these numbers respectively rank worst, third worst, fourth worst, and fifth worst. The superior defensive metrics work on completely different scales and so they typically disagree, however on this level they’re unanimous: Cruz has been one of many very worst outfielders in all of baseball this season. In line with DRS, Cruz is the least-valuable defender in baseball, full cease.
There’s nice information, although. Final week, reader AJ wrote into our newly launched mailbag to ask for an replace, as a result of Cruz’s stats look completely completely different now. I made a decision the turnaround was worthy of a full article as a substitute of some paragraphs. I’ve damaged every little thing down with my first article because the dividing line. There’s a chasm between Cruz’s first 17 video games and his final 48.
Oneil Cruz’s Defensive Turnaround
| Date | DRS | DRP | OAA | FRV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| By April 17 | -8 | -0.1 | -2 | -2 |
| Since April 18 | +3 | +0.5 | +4 | +5 |
| Season Complete | -5 | +0.4 | +2 | +3 |
Deserved Runs Prevented is inherently extra conservative than the opposite defensive metrics, however the entire superior numbers agree Cruz has utterly turned issues round over the previous two months. He hasn’t simply stopped racking up damaging numbers, he’s dug himself all the way in which out, grading as a web constructive in each metric besides Defensive Runs Saved. Over the previous two months, they beautiful clearly see him as one of many higher defenders within the league. Put that along with career-best hitting and baserunning numbers, and Cruz is on tempo for a profession 12 months.
The obvious enchancment is Cruz has, to some extent, lower out the errors. After committing 4 errors over the primary two weeks of the season, he’s made two over the previous two months. That’s nonetheless approach too many for an outfielder, but it surely marks an enormous enchancment. And that’s not the thrilling half. Cruz’s instincts are enhancing.
Simply take a look at Statcast’s outfield soar numbers. Two months in the past, Cruz graded out as one among baseball’s worst outfielders in all three parts: response time, route effectivity, and whole distance traveled over the primary 1.5 seconds. In all, he was 3.1 ft slower than the common outfielder, which ranked 62nd out of 67 certified gamers. He’s now simply 0.5 ft slower than common, which implies he’s made up 2.6 ft. There’s no method to know precisely how the pattern sizes have performed out, but when we go forward and assume Cruz has had the identical variety of probabilities per sport over each durations, then he’s been one thing like 0.9 ft sooner than common since we final checked in on him. That will put him simply exterior the highest third of certified outfielders. This could-be gapper from Geraldo Perdomo tells the story properly.
Statcast gave it a 70% catch likelihood, making it a three-star catch. It required Cruz to journey 79 ft in 4.7 seconds, and he did so very comfortably. He was already transferring by the point the published lower to the excessive residence digital camera, and he performed the angle properly, accounting for the truth that the ball would slice away from him. From it, you’d by no means know this ball goes for further bases 30% of the time.
As a fast refresher, Statcast determines the catch likelihood of each play an outfielder has to make, and helpfully breaks down these probabilities into classes, assigning between 0 and 5 stars relying on the issue. Cruz nonetheless hasn’t made a five-star catch and his solely four-star catch got here again on April 6. However he’s made all 4 of his three-star alternatives within the final two months, and he hasn’t missed a one- or two-star alternative over the whole season. If that’s who he could be going ahead – a man who doesn’t make any actually unbelievable performs, however completely feasts on balls with a catch likelihood above 50% and has a cannon for an arm – that’s sufficient to make him a extremely good middle fielder, even when he retains making the occasional error.
It’s additionally potential Cruz will maintain enhancing. His common dash velocity is 29.1 ft per second, which places him within the high 10% of the league. These four- and five-star catches, on which Cruz is 1-for-16 this season, require perfection from an outfielder. It’s important to get a tremendous soar, take an awesome route, and possess nice velocity to trace the ball down. Cruz has the velocity, and his jumps and routes have improved dramatically. There’s no less than an opportunity he might flip into the sort of participant who could make the occasional five-star catch. This ball from Victor Caratini two weeks in the past, one other three-star catch, is a superb instance.
The digital camera actually makes it look spectacular as a result of it’s following the correct fielder, which permits Cruz to leap into body like Superman. Cruz traveled 120 ft to get to it, and after the long term, he made a leaping catch and negotiated the wall completely. It’s exhausting to think about him making that catch a couple of months in the past. That’s to not say he’s been good. Right here’s a play he made simply two days earlier. It was a low liner with a 55% catch likelihood, making response time and route of the utmost significance. Cruz received there with no downside, however he misinterpret it barely and the ball received on high of him. He undershot the angle and needed to alter his route on the final minute. If not for his top, he in all probability wouldn’t have made the play.
We’re close to the top now, so it’s caveat time. We’re nonetheless speaking a few small pattern – or actually, one tiny pattern and one different small pattern. Proper now, Cruz’s +2 OAA grade comes from changing 89% of his catches when the common middle fielder would have made 88%. That’s it. He’s been 1% higher than common over the course of 167 batted balls, in order that 1% might be nearer to 1.67 catches. He hasn’t appeared nice on balls hit in entrance of him, and he nonetheless grades out poorly there in response to OAA. As I’ve famous previously, outfielders are likely to grade out higher when their probabilities skew towards three-star alternatives and are mild on five-star alternatives. It’s potential Cruz has been getting a bit fortunate together with his batted ball distribution. Nonetheless, whereas it’s in all probability too early to say definitively that Cruz is a superb middle fielder, that is actually encouraging. He seems the half an increasing number of of the time, and each the errors and the superior metrics are enhancing. The pattern actually issues, and outfielders don’t get to determine what balls get hit their approach. For now, he’s making these performs, and that’s a welcome change.