One Of Baseball’s Top Prospects Sent To Triple A

With a monstrous 6'7" frame, and an imposing combination of power and speed, shortstop Oneil Cruz is one of baseball's top prospects heading into 2022. But the Pittsburgh Pirates aren't contending for a playoff spot anytime soon, so they're in no rush to start his clock in the big leagues. Cruz will start the year in Triple-A. 

Although the 23-year-old has had a good amount of success at Double-A, he only has 6 games at Triple-A, so the added seasoning at that level will surely do him nothing but good. 

Nevertheless, ESPN's Buster Olney feels this is a classic case of a team holding a prospect down. "It just kinda drives me nuts," said Olney on his Baseball Tonight podcast. "It underscores the fact that we did not have a substantive change re: service time manipulation (in the collective bargaining agreement)."

The left-handed hitter has posted a .285 average with an .842 OPS at Double-A, with 13 home runs and 21 stolen bases in just 369 at-bats. He actually had a 2-game cup of tea in the majors at the end of last season, and that's all it took for him to make an impression, as he blasted a HR with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored in only 9 at-bats. 

Cruz is listed in the Top 15 prospects in the game by a number of publications, including Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and FanGraphs.

Instead, the Pirates will likely go once again with light-hitting Kevin Newman at short to begin the '22 campaign. Hello, Newman.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports