Ready to return: A healthy Oneil Cruz confident he can make a positive impact on the Pirates

BRADENTON, Fla. — Oneil Cruz booted grounders. He couldn’t get a ball out of his glove to make a throw. He missed pickoff throws from the catcher at second base. He even got frozen by a Luis Ortiz changeup for a called third strike during a live batting practice.

The Pittsburgh Pirates simply shrugged.

It was their first full-squad workout of spring training Monday at Pirate City, and the only thing that truly mattered was Cruz is healthy and back where he belongs: on the field, playing shortstop and taking swings from the batter’s box.

After missing all but the first nine games last season with a fractured left ankle that required surgery, Cruz pronounced himself 100% ready to return to baseball. Cruz said his ankle is healed.

“It feels really good,” Cruz said, with Pirates coach Stephen Morales serving as interpreter. “I put in a lot of work in the offseason and right after I got hurt. You’re trying your best and your hardest to get back on the field as soon as possible. I put in a lot of work to be where I’m at right now.”

The Pirates can’t quantify how much Cruz’s absence meant last season, but they had won five of their first eight games and were leading the Chicago White Sox, 1-0, when he was injured on an awkward slide into home plate while trying to score on a Ke’Bryan Hayes fielder’s choice to third base in the bottom of the sixth April 9 at PNC Park.

After batting .233/.294/.450 with 13 doubles, four triples, 17 home runs and 54 RBIs in 87 games as a rookie in 2022, Cruz was expected to serve as the Pirates’ leadoff hitter, starting shortstop and a prodigious power threat that outfielder Bryan Reynolds called a “dynamic piece that’s going to help everybody around him.”

Manager Derek Shelton on what SS Oneil Cruz learned while missing most of last season with a fractured left ankle and what his healthy return could mean to the Pirates. pic.twitter.com/aOQ0pO9CZI

— Kevin Gorman (@KevinGormanPGH) February 19, 2024

This much is obvious: Despite a 20-8 start, Cruz’s absence took a toll.

The Pirates tried nine players atop the batting order and seven players at his position. None could compensate for Cruz’s combination of arm strength at short, speed on the basepaths and power at the plate.

Still, the Pirates made a 14-win improvement from 2022. Could Cruz be the difference between their finishing 76-86 and in fourth place in the NL Central and becoming a playoff contender?

“To put a number on it is hard because it’s a different club,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, “but he’s an impactful player, and I think we saw that last year in spring training and the short number of games he played, the strides he had made with another year. Adding an impact player back in the middle of the diamond, that’s something that’s definitely going to benefit us.”

The Pirates are taking a cautious approach with Cruz, trying to make up for lost time by putting him in game-like situations as quickly as possible while also promising to ease their early expectations. Cruz faced All-Star right-hander Mitch Keller in a live batting practice Saturday and flamethrower Ortiz on Monday.

“It’s a really talented player that, basically, we did not have the ability to deploy for almost the entire season,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said. “With respect to Oneil, we really want to give him every opportunity to come back into his game this spring. Not expecting him to be anybody but himself. He missed a lot of time. He’s coming off a major injury. We understand the game’s hard. He’s going to need some reps. He’s going to need to get back into game activity, get back into competition. We’re so excited he’ll have the opportunity to do that.”

Perhaps the Pirates learned to temper their hopes last summer. They initially projected a four-month recovery, only for Cruz to stop his running program after experiencing discomfort in his first session.

Even though Cruz said he learned more about the game by watching from the dugout and on television than he would have by playing every day, he admits getting past the mental block was a challenge.

“I lost my confidence on running because that surgery was on my leg,” Cruz said. “At the beginning, that’s what I struggled with, just to be able to run again like I used to. But now I feel 100%. I’m in a good spot.”

The tallest starting shortstop in baseball history at 6-foot-7, Cruz appears to have packed on more muscle. But after committing 17 errors (10 throwing) as a rookie, he still has to prove he can handle the rigors of playing the position on an everyday basis in the majors and make the routine plays as well as the Statcast-shattering spectacular ones.

Shelton is less concerned with Cruz’s lateral movement, something he’s been working on since late last season. The main focus is Cruz getting his timing back at the plate, then passing tests on the basepaths.

“You miss an entire year, and it’s rusty. That’s why we’re gonna try to get him in as many live situations as possible like he was (Monday) off Ortiz,” Shelton said. “Running the bases is gonna be the last one, and sliding is gonna be a big one. We were able to see him slide in a Dominican instructional league game. I think the second game he played in, he got a base hit, stole second and was able to slide. That’s gonna be important, it’s just breaking barriers of game speed competition that we need to accomplish.”

Where Cruz set lofty goals last season, hoping to join the exclusive 40-40 club, after a season-ending surgery and subsequent setback, he has changed course and learned to look at the game through a new lens.

“My main goal is to stay healthy through the whole year,” Cruz said. “I know the other stuff will come. Me being in the lineup will help the team a lot. Last year, I missed it, and I know I was missed by the team not being in the lineup. I know I can contribute a lot to the team and get more wins, that’s for sure.”