Pirates looking to kill two birds with one stone with latest surprising position switch

Aiming to solve two glaring issues, the Pittsburgh Pirates made quite the call on Monday.

While plummeting down the National League standings, the organization has made a startling positional change, which looks to be for the long run. Pirates manager Derek Shelton announced that electric 25-year-old shortstop Oneil Cruz will transition to center field. This move aims to address the position's lack of production while moving Cruz, often a defensive liability, away from his area of struggle.

Through this decision, Pittsburgh will slot Nick Gonzales, who was just reinstated from the injured list to second base and slide utilityman and trade deadline acquisition Isiah Kiner-Falefa over to the captain of the infield.

Despite his elite athleticism, Cruz hasn't been the wall Pittsburgh desires in the middle of its infield. So far this season, he has recorded the second most errors in all of baseball behind Cincinnati Reds' Elly de la Cruz. Baseball Savant data shows Cruz has recorded -3 Outs Above Average (OAA) at shortstop, matching David Hamilton of the Boston Red Sox. That puts him among the bottom-ten qualified shortstops in baseball.

There is a high possibility that Cruz could develop into a difference-making centerfielder with time

Can he do it? Of course, he can. Cruz possesses the kind of arm strength and sprint speed that make this look like a genius decision from the franchise. The towering athlete ranks within the 87th percentile in sprint speed and 99th in arm strength, per Savant. With that being said, you can't ignore the inexperience. The six-foot-seven native of the Dominican Republic has not once played center field -- not even while working his way through the minors.

However, he did play 10 games in left field in Triple-A for the Indianapolis Indians back in 2022. There, he made two errors, while totaling nine RBI at the plate.

"We're talking about a kid who can move at a rate that not many people can move at," said Shelton during a media availability. "It's going to be a transition and it's going to be one of those things where there is going to be adjustments to it. We realize that and we think it's going to make us better. I think we're going to see some freedom out of him."

The Pirates' centerfield production in 2024 couldn't get much worse

Pittsburgh's center field performance has been so dismal, they might as well field a Little Leaguer from Lake Mary, Florida instead. Since May 1, Pirates centerfielders rank last in batting average and first strikeout percentage across Major League Baseball. Five different players have given it the good old college try out in center for the Pennsylvania outfit in 2024: Michael A. Taylor, Jack Suwinski, Ji Hwan Bae, Joshua Palacios and Billy McKinney.

They've all been as successful as a screen door in a submarine, especially Taylor, who currently owns a .196/.257/.324 slash line, good for a horrid .541 OPS. Remember, the league average for OPS this season is .714, per Baseball Reference.

The conversations to shift Cruz to the outfield grass reportedly began weeks back, even prior to the trade deadline. He was made aware of the final decision on Sunday evening.

We won't see No. 15 in yellow and black out in center right away. He'll be Pittsburgh's designated hitter for a few days, ahead of the intriguing change.

Shelton raved about Cruz's ability to thrive in this new position, not just this season but going forward.

"He's an unbelievable athlete," said Shelton. "We feel that [center field] is probably the best position for him and for the Pirates. We wanted to make sure that we had a runway of games going into next year for that to be important. Excited to see him out there."

"This kid is a dynamic athlete. With the way that we're set up now, I feel that's the best thing for us."

The Pirates' hopes of punching a ticket to the October dance for the first time since 2015 are a long shot at this point. As of the time of writing, they're a whopping eight games behind the Atlanta Braves for the final wild-card spot in the National League.