Don't get it twisted: Pirates risk ruining one of baseball's most electric players

Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds have a ton of similarities in their games that has caused many to compare the two young stars.

They're both abnormally large shortstops with incredible athleticism, great speed and a rocket for an arm. Neither one is a polished infield defender, but they're both still very young.

All these things have combined to cause many to speculate that one, if not both, of these big shortstops could be moved to another position on the field, specifically the outfield.

This week, the Pirates announced they would be taking that leap of faith with their young star, and it's left many in Pittsburgh on the fence on this decision.

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Pirates make high-risk, high-reward position switch for SS Oneil Cruz

He's not a great shortstop, by any means. In terms of errors, fielding percentage and the routine play, Cruz struggles from time to time. But his physical capabilities allow for him to make spectacular plays even though he often fumbles routine outs.

He may not be good defensively, yet, but he is improving quickly. Let's take a look at his statcast fielding numbers.

In 2022, the last time he played a full season, Cruz posted a -6 fielding run value and -9 OAA. Both were horrifically low numbers. In 2024, his numbers aren't great, but they're much better. He currently holds a -2 fielding run value and -3 OAA. Again, not great numbers, but they're much better than his last season. The key is he's improving.

Moving him to the outfield, given his toolset (speed, size, big arm) makes sense on the surface, but the 25-year-old is coming off a major ankle injury and outfield is notoriously tougher on the body than the infield. Injuries occur more often on the outfield grass than in the infield dirt.

Cruz has also never played a single inning of outfield in his professional career. He's completely raw in the outfield.

The risk of this decision is as follows. The Pirates could stunt his defensive growth in the infield, cursing him to always be a bad infield defender rather than letting him improve. They run the risk that he could get hurt much easier and they run the risk of him simply being worse out there than he was in the infield. It's obviously a very high risk.

But the reward is also big. If it works out, and let's say he's an average outfield defender, he would be better out there than in the infield. It would allow the Pirates to slot in a better defender at the important position of shortstop while Cruz unleashes big throws from the outfield.

Only time will tell how this decision works out.