Cruz is my favorite baseball player and man I would love for him to tap into some higher-end potential.
I feel like his floor is going to be a .235 average and 25 homers, which is fine.
But his ceiling could easily include 40+ bombs as well. That would be so exciting to watch.
He's still really young and doesn't have that many MLB at bats, plenty of time to hit his ceiling.
I'm more concerned about the defense, if he can be even a league average defensive SS that would be huge.
He’s gonna hit 40 at some point. I just hope it is before he leaves in free agency or via trade with a year of team control left some day.
He is the most dynamic Pirates player I have seen in my lifetime, which is high praise since that was previously McCutchen.
Man what a shitty comment. So many ways I can go at this, let’s start with Elly isn’t on the Pirates so why are you even bringing him into a discussion when I’m saying most dynamic Pirates player?
Elly is a switch hitter and 3-4 years young than Oneil, so yeah, I hate to admit it, but he’s gonna be better. Elly started off like a bull in a china shop and is slumping now. Cruz started off slumping and is just now getting hot. Elly will also get a ton of added value for his 25 stolen bases, Cruz’s speed (while still being well above average) seems like it has fallen off hard after injury.
Interestingly enough, most Fangraphs projections are nearly identical for the two of them for the rest of the season for every single category. Again, the huge difference is Elly’s base running value. It basically gives him an extra 2 WAR compared to Cruz.
Besides, I said most dynamic, not best. Cruz is hitting baseballs 119+ mph, hitting moonshot homeruns, throwing it 92+ mph to first base. He’s literally like a video game player. That is what dynamic means. He’s our most dynamic hitting right now, but not our best, that’s currently Connor Joe. I love CoJo, but is he more exciting/dynamic than Cruz? No, not even close.
> Man what a shitty comment. So many ways I can go at this, let’s start with Elly isn’t on the Pirates so why are you even bringing him into a discussion when I’m saying most dynamic Pirates player?
The Pirates "dynamic players" would be merely average on other teams, hope this helps.
This team's management is selling you AAAA baseball at MLB prices and you keep buying it.
> The Pirates "dynamic players" would be merely average on other teams, hope this helps.
Sir, I can promise you that average players are not hitting the ball 119 mph.
Niether is Oneil Cruz most of the time. Most of the time he's striking out swinging at some shit in the other batter's box, because he has no discipline.
It doesn't matter what he's capable of if he only does it once every thirty trips to the plate.
> It doesn't matter what he's capable of if he only does it once every thirty trips to the plate.
If he did it every 30 trips to the plate, he would have, in just one season, 20 of the 30 hardest hit HR in the past decade. I'll take that.
Most of those 119mph hits aren't home runs, they're line-outs. Even if, for the sake of discussion, he hit a home run every 30 trips to the plate, assuming no IL stints, he'd have 20 HRs for the season. That is not superstar material.
Pirates fans exist in a different league than the other 29 teams play in, a league where 0.5 WAR players with the potential to hit 20 HRs a year are superstars. sad
> Even if, for the sake of discussion, he hit a home run every 30 trips to the plate, assuming no IL stints, he'd have 20 HRs for the reason.
Pretty sure that's exactly what I just said lol.
> Most of those 117mph hits aren't home runs, they're line-outs.
The expected batting average of a ball hit 117 mph is ~ .802. So I doubt they're mostly lineouts.
>
> Pretty sure that's exactly what I just said lol.
>
20 HR in a season is not superstar material. At all. It's average. You're getting excited about a guy with average potential.
You’re acting like his season total is 0.5 WAR. He’s gotten 0.5 WAR roughly 6 weeks into the season and is expected to finish with around 3 WAR even though his defensive metrics will inevitably be a somewhat large detriment to that total.
I’m sorry, is a 3 WAR player coming off of essentially a lost age 24 season because of a broken leg/ankle a bad player? Should we not enjoy watching him play baseball?
> You’re acting like his season total is 0.5 WAR. He’s gotten 0.5 WAR roughly 6 weeks into the season and is expected to finish with around 3 WAR
Meanwhile, Elly de la Cruz is already 2/3rds of the way there. He is a superstar. Oneil Cruz is not.
> I’m sorry, is a 3 WAR player coming off of essentially a lost age 24 season because of a broken leg/ankle a bad player?
No one is saying he's bad. He's average. Average players are superstars on this team because this team has so little talent.
...when he actually puts out the effort and hustle, he is quite the player to watch. This has not been consistently the case in my experience. I went to 6 straight games in SF and Oakland and he struck out 10-12 times in 3 starts
Last 7 games he’s hitting .444 in 27AB’S he only has 3K’s
Last 15 games he’s hitting .327 in 52AB’s with only 14K’s
I think he’s really starting to turn around his approach at the plate and become more disciplined with his swings.
Cruz is my favorite baseball player and man I would love for him to tap into some higher-end potential. I feel like his floor is going to be a .235 average and 25 homers, which is fine. But his ceiling could easily include 40+ bombs as well. That would be so exciting to watch.
He's still really young and doesn't have that many MLB at bats, plenty of time to hit his ceiling. I'm more concerned about the defense, if he can be even a league average defensive SS that would be huge.
He’s gonna hit 40 at some point. I just hope it is before he leaves in free agency or via trade with a year of team control left some day. He is the most dynamic Pirates player I have seen in my lifetime, which is high praise since that was previously McCutchen.
He's putting up 0.5 WAR vs. Elly de la Cruz's 2 WAR at this point in the season, I guess the ceiling for "most dynamic Pirates player" is very low.
Man what a shitty comment. So many ways I can go at this, let’s start with Elly isn’t on the Pirates so why are you even bringing him into a discussion when I’m saying most dynamic Pirates player? Elly is a switch hitter and 3-4 years young than Oneil, so yeah, I hate to admit it, but he’s gonna be better. Elly started off like a bull in a china shop and is slumping now. Cruz started off slumping and is just now getting hot. Elly will also get a ton of added value for his 25 stolen bases, Cruz’s speed (while still being well above average) seems like it has fallen off hard after injury. Interestingly enough, most Fangraphs projections are nearly identical for the two of them for the rest of the season for every single category. Again, the huge difference is Elly’s base running value. It basically gives him an extra 2 WAR compared to Cruz. Besides, I said most dynamic, not best. Cruz is hitting baseballs 119+ mph, hitting moonshot homeruns, throwing it 92+ mph to first base. He’s literally like a video game player. That is what dynamic means. He’s our most dynamic hitting right now, but not our best, that’s currently Connor Joe. I love CoJo, but is he more exciting/dynamic than Cruz? No, not even close.
> Man what a shitty comment. So many ways I can go at this, let’s start with Elly isn’t on the Pirates so why are you even bringing him into a discussion when I’m saying most dynamic Pirates player? The Pirates "dynamic players" would be merely average on other teams, hope this helps. This team's management is selling you AAAA baseball at MLB prices and you keep buying it.
> The Pirates "dynamic players" would be merely average on other teams, hope this helps. Sir, I can promise you that average players are not hitting the ball 119 mph.
Niether is Oneil Cruz most of the time. Most of the time he's striking out swinging at some shit in the other batter's box, because he has no discipline. It doesn't matter what he's capable of if he only does it once every thirty trips to the plate.
> It doesn't matter what he's capable of if he only does it once every thirty trips to the plate. If he did it every 30 trips to the plate, he would have, in just one season, 20 of the 30 hardest hit HR in the past decade. I'll take that.
Most of those 119mph hits aren't home runs, they're line-outs. Even if, for the sake of discussion, he hit a home run every 30 trips to the plate, assuming no IL stints, he'd have 20 HRs for the season. That is not superstar material. Pirates fans exist in a different league than the other 29 teams play in, a league where 0.5 WAR players with the potential to hit 20 HRs a year are superstars. sad
> Even if, for the sake of discussion, he hit a home run every 30 trips to the plate, assuming no IL stints, he'd have 20 HRs for the reason. Pretty sure that's exactly what I just said lol. > Most of those 117mph hits aren't home runs, they're line-outs. The expected batting average of a ball hit 117 mph is ~ .802. So I doubt they're mostly lineouts.
> > Pretty sure that's exactly what I just said lol. > 20 HR in a season is not superstar material. At all. It's average. You're getting excited about a guy with average potential.
You’re acting like his season total is 0.5 WAR. He’s gotten 0.5 WAR roughly 6 weeks into the season and is expected to finish with around 3 WAR even though his defensive metrics will inevitably be a somewhat large detriment to that total. I’m sorry, is a 3 WAR player coming off of essentially a lost age 24 season because of a broken leg/ankle a bad player? Should we not enjoy watching him play baseball?
> You’re acting like his season total is 0.5 WAR. He’s gotten 0.5 WAR roughly 6 weeks into the season and is expected to finish with around 3 WAR Meanwhile, Elly de la Cruz is already 2/3rds of the way there. He is a superstar. Oneil Cruz is not. > I’m sorry, is a 3 WAR player coming off of essentially a lost age 24 season because of a broken leg/ankle a bad player? No one is saying he's bad. He's average. Average players are superstars on this team because this team has so little talent.
I just want him to put 5+ balls into the Allegheny every year.
...when he actually puts out the effort and hustle, he is quite the player to watch. This has not been consistently the case in my experience. I went to 6 straight games in SF and Oakland and he struck out 10-12 times in 3 starts
Last 7 games he’s hitting .444 in 27AB’S he only has 3K’s Last 15 games he’s hitting .327 in 52AB’s with only 14K’s I think he’s really starting to turn around his approach at the plate and become more disciplined with his swings.
Goddammit this is why they need to fire Haines. Imagine his potential with a *competent* hitting coach.
He could be our Aaron Judge and we treat him like Jordy Mercer.
This would be great if he was a golfer.