Extremely Real Oneil

 

When Bligh Madris and Oneil Cruz got brought up together, Madris was the one who got off to the better start. And people paid attention to him, and 'oh he's got a homer' or something, but deep down...I knew it wouldn't last. There's a few young outfielders in Pittsburgh, they've got Jack Suwinski up already. There's only one Oneil Cruz. 

Sure enough, Madris is back in triple-A. Cruz, even with Kevin Newman A.) healthy and B.) HITTING, Oneil Cruz is still in the majors. Why? Because he's spent way too much time in Indianapolis already, and there's no way he's gonna go down now that he's rolling a bit. It's not perfect, he's hitting .213 with 15 RBIs and 4 homers, but he's just standing out in a big way. Besides, y'know, being a 6'7 shortstop.

And that's the thing. Now Oneil Cruz and Ke'Bryan Hayes get to be in the same infield, and right now they're both playing pretty well. Kevin Newman is also hitting, and they're playing him at 2nd so they can all stay in the lineup together. It also allows Josh VanMeter to take some reps in the outfield to cover for Bryan Reynolds, and for Chavis to stay on 1st and keep Vogey in DH. So, while a lot of this team isn't perfect yet and needs the rest of the youth movement to come in, you can see something forming. Chavis-Newman-Cruz-Hayes is a pretty awesome infield, and I can't imagine what it'll look like when they're all on.

That's honestly the theme of this Pirates team- you can slowly see the pieces beginning to move in the right direction. After awful starts, Zach Thompson, J.T. Brubaker and Mitch Keller have had some great recent starts and have moved their ERAs under 5. I have a feeling Jose Quintana will be gone in a few weeks, but his departure might be better news for these three in their quest to have a season worth remembering despite not having a ton of wins. And plus, you still have Roansy Contreras back in Indianapolis, and he's been pretty nice in the majors. This isn't a perfect team, but it's way better than it's been recently.

I am intrigued by what this team will look like after July. Who'll stick around. Who'll start surging in the empty space. Who'll emerge from the rubble. What that'll mean for the next stage of Pirates baseball.

Coming Tonight: Second year catcher for a team with a surprising amount of odds to succeed.