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 |
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