Oneil Cruz’s horror show in Houston this week has resulted in a wave of Pirates fans and some in the media calling for him to be moved away from the shortstop position.

Is it time to have a discussion on making Oneil Cruz a 1st baseman due to the crazy amount of throwing errors he makes?

— Sliime ???? (@SliimeCody) August 1, 2024

Can we move Oneil Cruz to the outfield? He is a terrible shortstop and looks lost out there half the time. #LetsGoBucs

— Jimmy Moslak (@jtmoslakfishing) July 30, 2024

Love the moves the @pirates did but they forgot the most important move of all and that's make oneil Cruz DH or something, complete liability on the field every night

— 2adammorgan (@2adammorgan) August 1, 2024

@DonChed54 Cruz doesn't belong at SS. He belongs at a corner outfield position. The issue is who replaces him that can produce runs. Because him as much as I hate to say it hitting .250 with 20-30 HRs making errors is better than a SS hitting .200 with 9-10HRs making 10errors

— STEELCITYNATION (@SCityNATION412) August 1, 2024

For as gifted as Oneil Cruz is, he's not a good enough fielder and you can't defend 19 errors

— Austin Bechtold (@AustinRBechtold) August 1, 2024

With three errors in Wednesday’s 5-4 loss and 20 total for the season, I certainly understand the reaction.

However, if the Pirates are going to move Cruz to a different position, it can’t happen this year. If they do it at all, it has to be next year after a full offseason to get Cruz up to speed at whatever position he takes over for 2025.

Unless the Pirates decide that he just can’t play anywhere, and they trade him, which would stun me.

The issue with Cruz at shortstop isn’t his arm. It’s great.

The fretting over him being “too tall” to play the position hasn’t been the catalyst for his fielding woes. He’s flexible enough. His feet are decent enough. It’s not residue from his injury. He’s still quick.

Cruz’s issues are instinct, focus and a lack of general baseball sense.

That bizarre decision of his to wander so deep into the outfield that he got in Bryan Reynolds’ way when the left fielder was trying to catch a fly ball had nothing to do with Cruz’s ability to play shortstop.

It had everything to do with his head being up his own backside and having no clue where he was on the field.

Another possibility is that he did know where he was and just ran out that far anyway. That would be even worse.

good to see the effort but sometimes restraint is needed pic.twitter.com/iLVLSbTV4y

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 1, 2024

When Cruz misfires on a throw, it’s not because he’s loading up to get a little extra because he needs it. He doesn’t need it. He’s got a rocket launcher for a right arm.

When Cruz misfires on a throw, it’s often because he’s loading up when he doesn’t need to in order to show off his gun — when simply getting rid of the ball quickly (but with less unnecessary velocity via a longer wind up) would do the job just as well.

There's no doubt that #Pirates O'Neil Cruz is a freak athlete and statcast darling.

But man, can he be frustrating at times, particularly on defense.

His team simply needs outs to close out the game, and instead of making a quick, strong throw – he does this.. pic.twitter.com/oTsSOBNi5Q

— FTD (@FromTheDish) July 31, 2024

Then, when things go wrong (as they did Wednesday night), Cruz sometimes compounds the problem by making an error on top of an error. Or he carries his fielding mistakes to the plate. He was 1 for 13 with nine strikeouts and five errors over the three games in Houston.

If this is what Cruz is doing at a position where he feels comfortable, how do you think things are going to look when he is put in a position where he feels uncomfortable?

I know some are saying to just make Cruz a designated hitter. OK. Then you lose his arm and speed in the field. Plus, Andrew McCutchen becomes virtually useless at that point, given the acquisition of Bryan De La Cruz.

Similarly, if you put Cruz at first base, there’s a lot of action and nuance over there for a brand new position that also doesn’t highlight Cruz’s arm or legs. How long do you think it’ll be for Cruz to pick up the subtleties of turning a 3-6-3 double play, flips and exchanges with pitchers, footwork, holding runners on and knowing when to go for a ball or break for the bag.

I’m not too keen on dropping all that in his lap in August.

If you put him at third base, you’ll still have him overthrowing and probably cutting off the shortstop a ton. Plus, you take Ke’Bryan Hayes’ Gold Glove off the field.

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You can put Cruz at second, but that just strikes me as a different version of the same issues that are already present. Plus, I feel like the Pirates have 10 potential second basemen in their system already, even before Nick Gonzales comes back.

In right field, Cruz is going to have to learn how to read fly balls, which base to throw to, and how to play the Clemente Wall at PNC Park. If you think he is showing off his arm now at the expense of practicality, just wait until he overthrows cut off men while trying to gun down runners from the warning track.

Or maybe we get the opposite of what happened Wednesday and Cruz tries to run in from the outfield and catch pop ups on the dirt.

Right field is an option for 2025 if Cruz has a full winter to practice. If Hayes gets traded in the offseason, third base might work.

Or — and hear me out on this — what if the team just coaches bejesus out of him at shortstop instead of meekly saying, “Well, you know, he’s coming back from a bad injury last year,” and using that as a perpetual excuse for things that have nothing to do with his broken leg last April.

After all, a lot of the issues we are seeing with Cruz were present before he got hurt.

Whatever the answer is, it’s not moving Oneil Cruz to a new position with 54 games to play in 2024.

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