The Pirates Oneil Cruz, despite being eliminated in the semi-finals of Major League Baseball's Dunk Contest Home Run Derby, made quite an impression in the event last night. The Post-Gazette made a huge deal of it this morning, and it is all over social media that not only did Cruz hit 34 HOME RUNS in the contest, he also hit THE LONGEST HOME RUN (513 FEET), and NINE OF THE TEN LONGEST HOME RUNS, and THE TOP FIVE LONGEST HOME RUNS in the contest. Can you just imagine how Greg Brown and Joe Block will be slobbering all over this when the Pirates return to action on Friday?
Yes, I watched the HRD, and yes, I was rooting for Cruz, and yes, it was fun to see the rockets that were launched by Cruz and all of the other participants. However, let's keep this in perspective here: this was a glorified batting practice session, albeit one with the added pressure a time clock and a $1 million prize to the winner. It also brings into perspective the conundrum that is Oneil Cruz. He does have prodigious power, he is very fast, but he strikes out a lot, is not a very good hitter, and he is a disaster defensively, and he tends to loaf sometimes (although maybe he won't loaf anymore since Don "Donnie" Kelly recently benched him for two whole innings for not running out a ground ball).
He does hit mammoth home runs more than occasionally, but let's put even that into perspective. Here are Cruz's stats at the All-Star Break:
Home Runs - 16, tied for 43rd in all of MLB
RBI - 37, tied for 117th in all of MLB
Strike Outs - 116, tied for 3rd in all of MLB
BA - .212, 146th in all of MLB
OPS - .733, 96th in all of MLB
By contrast, the Mariners' Cal "The Big Dumper" Raleigh, the winner of the HRD, currently has 38 HR, 82 RBI, a .259 BA, and an OPS of 1.010. He is also a Gold Glove catcher. I include this paragraph not only for comparison purposes, but to also give me a reason to type out the best nickname in all of sports: The Big Dumper.
There is a reason why Cruz, a seemingly one trick pony, was at the Home Run Derby, but is not actually on the All-Star team. I confess that I am confused in the matter of Oneil Cruz. There is a mass of talent somewhere in there, but he is very far from being a complete ballplayer. Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, and Dave Parker he ain't.
Now, as for the Pirates themselves. What will probably be the high point of the season for them came on July 2 when they defeated the Cardinals 5-0. That was the third straight shutout of the Cards in that series, and it was the team's sixth straight win. They then departed on a nine game road trip to Seattle, Kansas City, and Minnesota that would lead up the All-Star Break. Would the team build upon that six game winning streak and create some momentum going into the second half of the season? We all know that answer. They lost eight straight games before salvaging a win on the final Sunday of the first half of the season. They now sit at 39-58 on pace for a 97 loss season. However, I for one am fully confident that they can pull off 100 losses in this, the sixth year of the Ben Cherrington Regime.
For reasons unknown to many, Cherrington remains the GM of the Pirates, and earlier this week he oversaw the Pirates selections in the MLB entry draft. The Bucs used their first two picks to select a couple of high school pitchers:
1. Seth Hernandez, 19, RHP
2. Angel Cervantes, 17, RHP
Unless either of these guys are Paul Skenes 2.0, we won't see Hernandez in Pittsburgh until 2029, and it will be the 2030's before Cervantes arrives.
We now await the July 31 trade deadline to see what guys GMBC trades for some other teams' random middle infield prospects.
PIRATES FEVER. CATCH IT!
Travis Williams, Ben Cherrington, Bob Nutting
The Bucco Brain Trust
What, us worry?
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