LUIS CRUZ

2/10/84; NDFA '00 (Boston); Mexico
R/R; 6-1, 185

Level
BA
OBP
SA
AB
2B
3B
HR
BB
K
SB
CS
2001 R (Bos)
.259
.285
.350
197
9
0
3
7
17
1
4
2002 A (Bos)
.188
.221
.277
202
7
1
3
9
30
0
2
2002 R (Bos)
.292
.329
.347
72
4
0
0
3
6
2
2
2003 A (SD)
.231
.279
.335
481
24
1
8
30
55
2
2
2004 A+ (SD)
.277
.310
.404
512
35
3
8
24
56
3
7
2005 AA (SD)
.159
.215
.245
151
2
1
3
9
31
0
1
2006 AA (SD)
.261
.301
.415
499
35
3
12
29
62
8
4
2007 AAA (SD)
.168
.216
.342
155
10
1
5
9
24
0
0
2007 AA (SD)
.252
.293
.345
238
10
0
4
13
20
3
0
2008 NL
.224
.278
.269
67
3
0
0
3
2
1
1
2008 AAA
.325
.347
.483
120
10
0
3
3
14
2
4
2008 AA
.264
.303
.381
375
24
1
6
19
34
3
3
2009 NL
.214
.282
.229
70
1
0
0
6
7
0
0
2009 AAA
.253
.274
.358
229
15
0
3
6
26
3
3

Cruz was a very weak hitter his first few years, but started to show some progress in 2004 and 2006, apparently interrupted by injury in between.  The improvement didn't carry over to 2007, though, other than the fact that he still hit for modest power.  He became eligible for free agency for the first time after the 2007 season and signed with the Pirates.  Cruz opened 2008 as the regular SS at Altoona and impressed the Pirates with his glovework, although his bat remained a liability.  He got hot after a late-season promotion to Indianapolis, though, and the Pirates added him to the 40-man roster and called him up for September.  I'd prefer to think that the Pirates weren't taken in by his flukish hitting in AAA.  With Jack Wilson out for the month, Cruz initially shared the shortstop position with Brian Bixler, but Bixler's continued struggles led to Cruz getting the job full-time.  This scuttled a plan by the Pirates to get some playing time for Cruz at second, to prepare him for becoming a utility player.  Cruz didn't hit at all, although he wasn't as hopeless as Bixler.  He rarely struck or walked.  Defensively he showed good range and athleticism, but was scattershot with his throws.  He was still error-prone in the minors, committing 26, but he had only one in the majors.

Cruz went into 2009 spring training expecting to compete for a utility infielder role, although neither might have gotten it had Andy Phillips not suffered back problems in camp.  Bixler had a strong spring, which ironically got him sent to AAA so he could play regularly, while Cruz made the team.  The purpose of the standard good-glove, no-hit infielder continues to escape me, except in situations where a team needs a defensive substitute on a frequent basis.  Bench players ordinarily spend a relatively larger amount of their time hitting, compared to starters.  The Pirates of all teams should know that.  In one four-year period, Abe Nunez led the team in pinch-hit at-bats three times and finished second the other.  The result over that time was a horrific .437 OPS.  In 2009, Luis Rivas got 25 pinch-hit plate appearances, which produced three singles, no extra-base hits and no walks, for a pitiful .240 OPS.  It would have been better to let the pitchers hit, and these figures don't even take into account double switches, which are often the functional equivalent of pinch-hitting.

In any event, Ramon Vazquez' ability to play short meant the Pirates didn't have to carry another non-hitting infielder, so when they acquired Delwyn Young in mid-April, they sent Cruz to AAA.  At that point, he'd played in only one game.  At Indianapolis, Cruz played all the infield and outfield positions in an effort to increase his versatility.  He came back up in July and stayed in the majors in the wake of all the trades the team made.  In both AAA and the majors, he continued to show he can't hit.  He eventually played a good deal at short due to injuries to Ronny Cedeno, as the team continued to prefer him to Bixler.  At the end of the season, though, a supposedly gimpy-kneed Ramon Vazquez started three straight games at short, possibly because Cruz' fielding wasn't as good as it had been previously.  Cruz should be a prime candidate to come off the 40-man roster in the off-season, especially given that the Pirates have an identical player in Argenis Diaz.

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