He’s as tall as NBA star Luka Doncic. He sprints as fast as NFL playmaker Tyreek Hill and throws as hard as Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
Pirates rookie shortstop Oneil Cruz is a one-of-a-kind player. At 6 feet 7 inches, the 23-year-old is the tallest player ever to start a game at shortstop, by 2 inches.
Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., who set the standard as a “big shortstop,” was 6-4. Remember the debate about whether Xander Bogaerts was too tall to play shortstop? Cruz has him by 5 inches.
“He’s a big guy, but he’s legit,” Bogaerts said after watching Cruz play in person. He’s lanky but he moves around at shortstop pretty well, and that arm plays anywhere, even on the mound.”
Cruz also has hit a ball 118.4 miles per hour this season. Only Shohei Ohtani and Giancarlo Stanton have had higher exit velocities.
One of Cruz’s throws across the infield earlier this season was measured at 97.8 m.p.h., the fastest recorded by Statcast since it started in 2015.
But according to Cruz, no team tried to turn him into a pitcher when he was a young player in the Dominican Republic.
His father, Rafael, was a minor league second baseman and shortstop in the Rangers organization from 1985-87. Oneil was determined to follow the same path and be a position player.
Even his name was a homage to baseball. Rafael Cruz named his first son after Paul O’Neill, his favorite player.
“Baseball runs in my blood,” Cruz said during a recent conversation at PNC Park translated by Mike Gonzalez of the Pirates.
“I’ve always loved shortstop because of my father. My favorite baseball player was Tony Fernández. It was a position I grew up loving and appreciating and always dreaming of being in the big leagues there. That’s really why I play shortstop. That was the influence poured over me. I have a lot of passion for it.”
The Dodgers signed Cruz in 2015 and traded him to the Pirates two years later in a deadline deal for lefthanded reliever Tony Watson. Cruz quickly became one of the organization’s shining lights.
Like so many other prospects, Cruz didn’t have a 2020 season because of the pandemic, although he played 14 games in the Dominican winter league. He started the 2021 season in Double A and finished it with two games in the majors.
He was 3 for 9 with a home run and three RBIs. There were 55 games in Triple A this season before Cruz came back up again in June.
The rebuilding Pirates are living with his learning on the job. Cruz has hit .197 with a .635 OPS and is overmatched by lefthanders (13 of 64 with 36 strikeouts).
“He could keep improving [in Triple A], but we’re looking to help him get through some of the transition this year,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “We felt like calling him up would help him and help us.”
Cherington got his start with the Red Sox as an amateur scout before rising to GM. He understands just how rare a player like Cruz is.
“I’ve never seen anybody like him. The coordination at his size, his speed, his arm. It’s a unique combination,” Cherington said.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora first saw Cruz during a spring training game in 2019. The improvement since has been dramatic.
“He has a cannon. Very athletic. He can fly to first base. He’s still learning on the job and that’s something [the Pirates] do. You can see the tools,” Cora said.
“You see him getting stronger. He moves really well for his size. The arm, that’s elite. I’ve never seen an arm like that. That’s impressive.”
As the Pirates rebuild, they dream about what kind of player Cruz can be as he matures and learns how best to use his skills.
“He’s working hard at it,” Cherington said. “We think going through this year hopefully helps him, and he’s not feeling any burden. He’s soft-spoken and thoughtful. You expect him to have a big personality and he’s pretty reserved.”
Cruz has learned enough about the United States to quickly answer “wide receiver” when asked what position he would play in another sport.
Had he grown up in Florida instead of a suburb of Santo Domingo, Cruz probably would be playing a different sport. It’s easy to picture him as a shooting guard, too.
But he is from a baseball family. Both of his brothers have played professionally. Homer was a pitcher in the White Sox organization before being released earlier this month. Rafael Jr. is a 6-1 shortstop with the Twins who was promoted to the Florida Complex League in July.
Oneil’s hope is to play in the same major league game as his brother.
“It’s a dream our whole entire family dreams. I’ll be honest with you, I pray to God that it will happen,” he said. “It’s something I would be forever grateful for, something I would be proud of.”
Cruz leans heavily on his father for guidance. In recent months, new Hall of Famer David Ortiz also has become a mentor. They haven’t met in person but communicate via text messages.
“He has taken the time to give me a lot of advice and share with me how important it is to believe in myself, work hard, and go about your business the right way in the majors,” Cruz said.
“Some of the conversations are two or three hours; he’s been great. I want to show him and everybody else that I can succeed at this level.”
POWER OUTAGE
Red Sox facing homer drought
The Red Sox are on a pace to hit 152 home runs. That would be their fewest in a full season since 2014, when they had 123. They hit 219 last year.
The 30 percent decrease isn’t hard to explain. A big chunk of that was trading Hunter Renfroe, who hit 31 homers last season, for Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects.
Bradley hit three homers before he was released. Renfroe has 21 for Milwaukee.
Add in J.D. Martinez’s loss of power, Trevor Story’s injury, and Xander Bogaerts’s slugging percentage dropping for a third straight season and the Sox often go days at a time without a homer.
They’ve compensated somewhat by leading the majors in doubles. But getting some fence-clearing power back in the lineup has to be an offseason priority.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
▪ Rosters expand on Sept 1. All teams will be required to carry 28 players (up from 26) with a maximum of 14 pitchers. Teams can carry fewer than 14 pitchers if they want.
It’s too early to say what the Sox will do. Carrying a third catcher and another reliever seems like the most likely route if they still believe they are contending for a playoff spot.
First baseman Triston Casas would be an interesting addition. But Chaim Bloom has said many times he believes in a prospect getting a full dose of Triple A. Casas has played only 69 games at that level.
▪ Tuesday was a bit of ignominy for the Sox. In a 5-3 victory at Pittsburgh, they did not have a hit against the Pirates bullpen over seven innings.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since 1893 the Pirates had a game where the bullpen didn’t allow a hit while pitching seven or more innings.
▪ Albert Pujols has been a topic of conversation in the Sox clubhouse during the current road trip. The 42-year-old has hit 11 home runs this season and has 690 home runs. Will he really retire so close to 700?
“How can you?” said Michael Wacha, a former Cardinal who never played with Pujols but has deep respect for him. “What if he’s only five away?”
Only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Babe Ruth reached 700. Alex Rodriguez was at 696 when he was released by the Yankees in 2016.
“That’s a hard one,” said Rich Hill, another 42-year-old. “I hope he gets there.”
Pujols had five home runs and 15 RBIs in his first 41 at-bats after the All-Star break.
▪ When Hirokazu Sawamura enters the game, translator Yutaro Yamaguchi jogs in from the bullpen with him, even though Alex Cora’s conversation with the righthander is never more than a few seconds.
Turns out no Japanese is spoken. Cora and Sawamura have a routine. Cora says, “Attack!” in English and Sawamura responds in Spanish, “Listo para matar!”
That means, “Ready to kill!”
Sawamura has been a great value for two years and $3 million, giving the Sox 100⅓ innings over two seasons with a 3.05 ERA. Opponents have hit .219 against him.
ETC.
Rangers do the Texas two-step
There has been lots of palace intrigue with the Rangers. On Monday, president of baseball operations Jon Daniels made the announcement that manager Chris Woodward was fired. That wasn’t a surprise given that he was 76 games under .500 over four seasons.
Then on Wednesday, owner Ray Davis fired Daniels after 17 seasons in charge. That was a surprise, if only because of the timing. But Davis said he had been considering it for months.
Only Billy Beane (Athletics) and Brian Cashman (Yankees) had longer tenures running their teams, both with 24 seasons.
Daniels’s contract was up at the end of the season. Why not wait until then and give him a dignified exit?
GM Chris Young is now in charge of a well-funded team that hasn’t had a winning season since 2016.
On most teams that have a president of baseball operations and general manager structure, the GM is clearly second in command. But Young left a prominent role with MLB — senior vice president of baseball operations — to join the Rangers and has widespread influence within the organization. It seemed inevitable he would take full control at some point.
“He’s been a tremendous partner, a mentor,” Young told reporters. “There’s been a lot of emotions, tears, a lot. I love him. And that was why he was a big part of why I came here. That said, I knew that this moment may come.”
Strangely, Young wasn’t told Daniels would be fired until just before the announcement was made.
Daniels put together pennant winners in 2010 and ‘11 but hadn’t won a playoff series since.
The Rangers also opened a new $1.1 billion ballpark in 2020, which increased pressure on Daniels to build a contending team. That Texas is 17th in average home attendance with only 24,726 didn’t help Daniels.
The Rangers drew a crowd of only 14,846 on Wednesday night, this after an expensive offseason that included signing free agents Corey Seager and Marcus Semien.
Then there’s the draft. The Rangers haven’t had a first-round pick make a significant impact since Joey Gallo was taken in 2012.
Interim manager Tony Beasley will be considered to replace Woodward. He has been on the staff for eight seasons and is well-liked.
But this is a decision Young needs to put his stamp on.
That makes Red Sox bench coach Will Venable a good candidate to replace Woodward. Venable has been seen as a manager in waiting for several years with his experience as a player, executive, and coach.
That Venable also played for Princeton, as Young did, can only help his cause.
Extra bases
At $32 million, David Price is a handsomely paid middle reliever for the Dodgers, and a very good one. Through Thursday, he had allowed two earned runs over 19⅔ innings over two months. Price is 1-0 with a 2.43 ERA and one save. He turns 37 this month and this is the final season of his seven-year, $217 million deal. The Red Sox have paid half his salary with the Dodgers as part of the Mookie Betts deal. Price hasn’t made a start since Aug. 22, 2021 … Houston’s Alex Bregman has twice been purposely balked to third base in recent games to keep him from signaling the location of the next pitch to the hitter … Juan Soto is on pace to finish this season with at least 500 walks over his five years in the majors. That would be more than Cecil Cooper, Dave Henderson, Kevin Mitchell, Kirby Puckett, and Matt Williams had for their entire careers, among many others. At 23, Soto has walked in 19.08 percent of his plate appearances. Ted Williams had a walk rate of 18.92 through his age-23 season … Mike Soroka is working his way back to the Atlanta rotation after a long absence. The 25-year-old righthander tore his Achilles’ tendon in 2020 and again 11 months later. He struck out eight in four innings for Single A Rome and should be back in the majors next month. Soroka was 15-6 with a 2.86 ERA in 37 starts from 2018-20. His addition is a potential difference maker for Atlanta’s bid to repeat … Giants righthander Jakob Junis is the only pitcher with at least 10 starts this season not to allow a run in the first inning … Milwaukee pitchers have 11 games with at least 15 strikeouts. The Mets are second with eight. The Red Sox have three … Gallo, a bust with the Yankees, was 6 for 26 with a double and three homers in his first 10 games for the Dodgers. Imagine if he returns to the Bronx for the World Series … Come one, come all: The Pirates have used 60 players this season, the most in the majors. The Athletics have used 54, 26 of them still having rookie status. Oakland has had 13 players make their major league debuts this season … Joe Girardi is trying out broadcasting again, agreeing to call two Cubs series for the Marquee Network. It’s a good fit given his ties to Chicago as a college (Northwestern) and professional (Cubs) player … Many teams, the Red Sox among them, are showing exit velocity, launch angle, and distance on the scoreboard when their players take batting practice. The idea is to give players instant feedback on their swings. The information is usually turned off when the visiting team hits … Lefthanders Alex Clemmey (Bishop Hendricken) and Thomas White (Phillips Academy, Andover) were invited to the Perfect Game All-American Classic at Chase Field next Sunday. The game will be on ESPNU at 8 p.m. Both rising seniors are committed to Vanderbilt but are likely to be high-round draft picks … Happy birthday to J.D. Martinez, who is 35. He’s ninth in Red Sox history with an .894 OPS. Former Sox catcher — yes, it feels strange to write that — Christian Vázquez is 32. First base coach Ramón Vázquez is 46. He also played for the Sox, in 2005.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.