Pittsburgh Pirates Minors: Oneil Cruz Off To A Slow Start In The AFL

One of the Pittsburgh Pirates top prospects is off to a slow start in the Arizona Fall League

Each off-season, the Pittsburgh Pirates, like every MLB team, sends multiple players to the Arizona Fall League. One of the most notable Pirate minor league players partaking in the AFL this season is shortstop Oneil Cruz. Cruz, as most of you know, is one of the team’s top hitting prospects, as well as a top-100 prospect in all of baseball.

Cruz, along with the other Pirate minor leaguers in the AFL, is playing for the Peoria Javelinas. The AFL is a nice test for Cruz to face more advanced and talented pitching. This comes in the same season that he reached the Double-A level for the first time in his professional career.

Well, unfortunately, Cruz’s AFL season is off to a slow start. However, this should not be alarming. Especially since he also started slow at Double-A following his promotion this past summer.

During the regulars season Cruz slashed .301/.345/.515 in 35 games with High-A Bradenton. In these 35 games he owned a .391 wOBA, 154 wRC+, a .213 ISO, and a 10.3% extra base hit rate. He was also slowed with the Marauders due to a foot injury that led to an injured list stint.

Cruz also played 35 games with Double-A Altoona. After a slow start to his Curve career, he finished with a .269/.346/.412 slash line, .143 ISO, .339 wOBA, 120 wRC+, and an extra base hit rate of 10.1%. He also saw his strikeout rate drop from 26.2% at High-A to 25.1%, as well as an increase in walk rate from 5.5% to 11.0%.

Despite these strong regular season numbers, the left-handed hitting slugger is off to a slow start in the AFL. Entering play on Tuesday, Cruz was just 1-for-15 in AFL play. His lone hit was a single, he had not drawn a walk, he had struck out eight times, and he had driven in one run.

Obviously, this is not the results Cruz nor the Pirates were looking for in the AFL. Thankfully, there is still 24 AFL games remaining. Furthermore, getting at bats and reps is the main purpose of the AFL anyway.

Watching Cruz for the rest of the AFL will be worthwhile for Pirate fans. Especially for fans such as myself who will be yearning baseball after Sunday.