Perrotto: There is No Turning Back for Oneil Cruz

PITTSBURGH – The ball will always find you.

That’s one of the cardinal rules of baseball. You can’t hide a poor defensive player because eventually the ball will be hit his way.

With that in mind, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Oneil Cruz tempted fate on Saturday morning while talking to reporters about his recent transition from shortstop to center field.

“Until right now, I haven’t had anything that’s been really challenging for me out there,” Cruz said through translator Stephen Morales. “Everything has been going really good. I’m just playing the game every day.”

The ball found Cruz twice on Saturday afternoon at PNC Park in the Pirates’ 5-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Adam Frazier hit a line drive to center field in the fifth inning with the Pirates leading 1-0. Cruz dove for the ball when he probably should have pulled up and it got past him. Frazier wound up with a triple and later scored.

In the seventh, Cruz misplayed Bobby Witt Jr.’s deep fly ball and was originally charged with a two-base error. The official scorer later reversed the call – quite charitably — to an RBI double.

Cruz had been OK in center field before Saturday with minus-1 defensive run saved and two throwing errors in a dozen games. However, his 13^th game turned out to be unlucky.

“I think when we moved him out there, we said there’s going to be bumps in the road and I think we saw a little bit of it today,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Unfortunately, a couple of plays that ended up resulting in runs. But yeah, it’s going to be a situation where there’s plays that he’s got to learn how to make.”

Shelton readily admitted at the time of the position switch that Cruz wasn’t happy about the move. However, the manager believes the 25-year-old has gotten over his initial disappointment.

“There was no time that I saw a bad attitude with it,” Shelton said. “I think he’s accepted that that’s where he’s at. He’s been working on it. Again, there’s going to be plays he has to learn how to make, and that’s where we’re at right now. And that’s what happens when you take a middle infielder and put him in the outfield in center field.”

I’m not convinced that Cruz is 100% behind the idea.

I asked him what he liked about playing center field before Saturday’s game. With a hoodie pulled over his mouth, Cruz paused for an uncomfortable amount of time before saying, “Listening to the fans yelling at me.”

Maybe he was joking. But I didn’t get the sense he was smiling underneath that hoodie.

Yet Cruz gave a quick and positive answer when later asked if he would welcome a return to shortstop.

“I’m good in center field now. I’m not coming back to shortstop,” he said. “I feel like out there I feel comfortable now. I feel like I’ve got more space and more mental peace to focus on my offense.”

There are no complaints about Cruz’s offense lately.

Cruz drove in the Pirates’ lone run on Saturday with a single and is hitting .344 in 37 games since the beginning of August, raising his season batting average from .247 to .267. He is also closing in on a 20-20 season with 19 home runs and 22 stolen bases with 14 games remaining.

Cruz does believe the defensive switch has helped his hitting.

“For sure,” he said. “More room and more time to think about other stuff and free yourself up. It’s not like you don’t have to be engaged but you don’t have to be as engaged as being at shortstop.”

Cruz isn’t just engaged in center field. He is married to the position.