PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He was the player fans were most excited to see back this year. The Pirates showed glimpses of being good in 2023, wait until a full year of Oneil Cruz. Now that 6’7” shortstop, who hits the ball with record-setting velocity, is battling with confidence problems.
It doesn’t seem possible that someone this big, with amazing physical tools, would have typical human problems. But he does.
“It's all about confidence,” Cruz said Sunday. “I've been losing my confidence a little bit lately but game by game, hopefully, I'll get it back.”
He is hitless in six of his last seven games. The average is down to .209 (.181 in April), the on-base percentage is .261 and he has three extra base hits this month. Cruz also leads the majors in strikeouts. In the weekend series with Boston, Cruz went 0 for 9 with five strikeouts, a dropped pop-up and botched a double play, each leading to runs.
The 25-year-old Cruz said some of it is not having played for all but nine games last year. He said he’s not trying to put extra pressure on himself, just trying to do his part to get the team out of rough times. But you have to think he’s trying to do a little more. The Pirates are currently on a six-game losing streak.
“It's a constant battle for me after being out for a year just to get back to where I was and gain that confidence,” Cruz said. “It's an everyday battle but I'll be fine.”
Teammates are trying to help him through it, he pointed out Ke’Bryan Hayes and Rowdy Tellez as a couple who are assisting. Pirates manager Derek Shelton is trying to alleviate some of whatever pressure he might be dealing with moving him down in the order, Sunday batting eighth.
“I thought his last at-bat was probably the best at-bat we’ve seen him have in about a week,” Shelton said of the walk in the seventh inning Sunday. “He took two really aggressive swings and drew a walk. He’s a big part of our offense. We have to figure it out.”
"Yeah, we do believe in him,” said teammate Connor Joe. “He's gonna do really special things. When you miss out on 600 at-bats, it's gonna take you a little bit to get going. I don't care who you are, you're gonna go through some times in baseball and it's gonna humble you. But, I can tell you in the clubhouse there's no loss of confidence in Oneil. You know he's going to put in the work behind the scenes and get back to the player he can be and the player he is."
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And the Pirates plan on rolling him out there nearly every day. Shelton echoing Cherington in saying that’s the plan and eventually the one Bucs player with superstar potential is going to turn it around.
“He’s not gonna figure it out by getting multiple days off right now,” Shelton said. “We need to run him out there.”
And he needs to come through. When that happens, multiple problems will likely be solved with this team.