Pirates Star Looks To Build On Incredible Month Of August
The conversation around Pittsburgh Pirates star Oneil Cruz has become nauseating. The six-foot-seven anomaly has had his ups and downs throughout his short MLB career with the Pirates but shows us signs of superstar status sometimes. The entire month of August was one of those times.
League Leader
As a result of the inferno that was August for Cruz, he posted a National League-leading batting average of .389 to go with his .985 OPS. He only hit one home run during the month, but he was finding ways to get on base and keep racking up multi-hit games. It all started on the second day of August when Cruz went five for five in the series opener against the Diamondbacks; he never looked back from there.
Over the month, Cruz managed to put together seven multi-hit games, which he struggled to do early on in the season. It even feels like he has figured out how to hit left-handed pitchers, something he has struggled with in his career up to this point. Now, Cruz has a .235 batting average against southpaws, which might not sound like much, but it’s a major improvement from where he was even four months ago.
It has truly been a wild two-month stretch for Cruz, stretching back to July when he started the momentum for his thrilling August. Since June 1st, Cruz has a .333 batting average and a .934 OPS. In those two months, he had 180 at-bats, registering 60 hits including 16 doubles and six home runs while pushing through 32 RBIs. He’s starting to see the ball well up there, folks.
Pirates Made A Big Change
Late in August, the Pirates announced they would be moving Cruz from his normal home at the shortstop position to center field, hoping to give the big horse more room to spread his wings and show off his big arm. Many have clamored for it for months, but now they finally get their wish.
Errors were a big problem at the shortstop position. He started 107 games at the position this season, seeing 396 defensive chances and making 24 errors. Cruz was disappointed in the change but willing to do whatever it took to help the team. It sure seems like that lit a fire under him at the plate, too.
Cruz has started 202 games at shortstop in his short MLB career. He’s gotten 795 defensive chances in those games and made 42 errors. This season has been the most riddled season of them all, hence why the Pirates went ahead and made the change. Since being moved to the outfield, Cruz has only been charged with one error, but it should’ve been credited to catcher Yasmani Grandal for his inability to catch a catchable ball.
Even though Cruz tried to put the team on his back in August, the Pirates went just 8-17 during the month, officially sticking a fork in the season to the surprise of nobody. It’s just what the Pirates do, get off to a blazing start just to have playoff aspirations and sputter out after the All-Star break.
This team could go somewhere if the Pirates can somehow build something around Cruz and star rookie Paul Skenes. Will they? Not likely. Not trading for Jazz Chisholm might be one of the Pirates' worst what-ifs in recent memory.
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