Prospect Report: Oneil Cruz Makes An Impressive Return

Oneil Cruz, SS, Pirates: What Cruz did in his return to the majors was pretty remarkable. In his first game, he showed the tools that make him one of the most unique big leaguers of all time. The tallest shortstop (6-foot-7) to ever start an MLB game, Cruz ripped off the hardest throw an MLB infielder has made this year (96.6 mph) on a groundout. He also had a 112.9 mph exit velocity on a double. That’s not an exceptional exit velocity, as it only put him in 57th among players for their max exit velocity in 2022. And Cruz himself has shown consistently that he can hit a ball harder than that. But it was the hardest hit ball by a Pirates big leaguer this season. He also had multiple runs where he recorded a sprint speed above 30 feet per second, showing he has plus speed.

Michael Harris, OF, Braves: When doing reporting for our offseason Braves Top 30 Prospects list, our Carlos Collazo had sources who told him that Harris may be as good defensively in center field as Cristian Pache. That seemed like a bold claim at the time, as for all his offensive concerns Pache was considered the best defensive outfielder in the minors at the time. To Harris’ credit, after 22 big league games, he’s showing that it’s a question that has no clear cut answer. While defensive metrics are less consistent than offensive metrics, Pache has six outs above average in center field, which is second best in the majors behind Jose Siri. Harris already is four outs above average in very limited action. That ranks him eighth in the majors. Like Pache, Harris is showing a plus-plus arm and they have shown similar speed as well. What’s even clearer is Harris is a much better hitter than Pache. He hit his fourth triple in the majors last night and now is hitting .346/.369/.580.

 

ORG	CLASS	RANK	PLAYER	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG	NOTES
ARI	MAJ	#3	Alek Thomas, OF	3	0	1	0	.277	2B (15), BB (24), SB (7),
ARI	MAJ	#4	Geraldo Perdomo, SS	4	0	0	0	.210
ARI	MAJ	#33	Buddy Kennedy, 3B	4	0	0	0	.290
ATL	MAJ	#1	Michael Harris, OF	3	0	3	0	.318	3B (4),
BOS	MAJ	#4	Jarren Duran, OF	3	2	2	0	.301	2B (14), BB (23), 2 SB (13),
CHC	MAJ	#15	Nelson Velazquez, OF	1	0	1	0	.248
CHC	MAJ	#26	Alfonso Rivas, 1B	4	1	1	0	.240
CHC	MAJ	#29	Christopher Morel, OF	5	0	1	0	.280
CWS	MAJ	#7	Jake Burger, 3B	3	1	1	0	.247	BB (19), E (8),
DET	MAJ	#1	Riley Greene, OF	3	1	1	0	.289	BB (12), E (1),
DET	MAJ	#2	Spencer Torkelson, 1B	3	1	2	1	.198
KC	MAJ	#1	Bobby Witt, SS	5	0	0	0	.236
KC	MAJ	#3	M.J. Melendez, C	3	0	0	0	.219	BB (34),
KC	MAJ	#6	Kyle Isbel, OF	4	0	0	0	.229
LAA	MAJ	#35	David MacKinnon, 1B	1	0	0	0	.322
MIA	MAJ	#17	Luke Williams, 2B	4	0	1	0	.289
MIA	MAJ	#24	Jerar Encarnacion, OF	4	0	0	0	.306
PIT	MAJ	#1	Oneil Cruz, SS	5	2	2	4	.236	2B (8),
PIT	MAJ	#24	Jack Suwinski, OF	4	2	1	0	.261	2B (14), BB (18),
PIT	MAJ	#32	Cal Mitchell, OF	1	0	0	0	.268
SD	MAJ	#1	CJ Abrams, SS	3	0	0	0	.273
SEA	R	#31	Luis Bolivar, OF	4	2	1	0	.214
STL	MAJ	#2	Nolan Gorman, 3B	3	0	0	0	.284
STL	MAJ	#6	Lars Nootbaar, OF	1	0	0	0	.184
STL	MAJ	#9	Juan Yepez, 1B	3	0	2	0	.282	2B (12),
STL	MAJ	#13	Brendan Donovan, 2B	4	0	1	0	.309
STL	R	#33	Carlos Carmona, OF	3	0	0	0	.000
TB	MAJ	#2	Josh Lowe, OF	3	0	0	0	.260	BB (25),
TB	MAJ	#3	Vidal Brujan, 2B	3	0	0	0	.214	BB (17),
TB	MAJ	#22	Rene Pinto, C	2	0	0	0	.247
TOR	MAJ	#1	Gabriel Moreno, C	4	1	1	0	.333

 

ORG	CLASS	RANK	PLAYER	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	NOTES
BOS	MAJ	#9	Josh Winckowski, RHP	6.2	7	2	2	1	2	3.47	W (4-3)
CHC	MAJ	#7	Caleb Kilian, RHP	2.1	3	7	5	5	3	4.17	L (2-2)
DET	MAJ	#20	Alex Faedo, RHP	4.1	8	5	4	2	2	3.90	L (3-5)
KC	MAJ	#19	Dylan Coleman, RHP	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	4.50
SF	MAJ	#12	Camilo Doval, RHP	0.2	2	1	1	1	1	2.70	L (2-3)
TB	MAJ	#24	Calvin Faucher, RHP	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	6.21