Spring training stats have almost zero predictive value.
They tell us very little about how a player will fare in the regular season because the level of competition and effort shown by most players is far from optimal.
However, they do tell us if a player in in shape, if he worked on some changes in the offseason, and other potentially useful clues.
In the specific case of Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Oneil Cruz, they tell us that he is absolutely locked in and ready for a breakout season.
Will it happen?
We don’t know, but he is hitting more line drives and fly balls than ever, hitting the ball with authority, and showing he is, indeed, in the best shape of his life.
On Monday, he hit two more home runs to add to his jaw-dropping spring, and is up to seven long balls in exhibition play, per MLB on Twitter.
Oneil Cruz swats his 7th #SpringTraining home run pic.twitter.com/btgH7KHYyZ
— MLB (@MLB) March 18, 2024
Cruz is hitting fastballs, curveballs, changeups, sliders… everything in the book.
He is absolutely locked in.
In the video, he is shown hitting a Spencer Turnbull curveball, making the necessary adjustments to get the barrel to the ball and taking advantage of that mammoth raw power of his.
As of the moment of writing this piece – the game wasn’t over – Cruz is hitting a fantastic .355 with a 1.476 OPS.
Seven home runs in 11 games is nothing short of amazing.
Cruz wants to have the best season of his life.
So far, his best one has been 2022, when he homered 17 times, stole 10 bases, and posted a .744 OPS.
The tools are there to vastly outperform all those numbers.
The post Oneil Cruz Continues His Power Surge This Spring appeared first on The Cold Wire.