PITTSBURGH (AP) — Oneil Cruz is planning to reach out to Fernando Tatis Jr.
They have a lot to talk about.
Cruz said Tuesday he was disappointed when he was told by the Pittsburgh Pirates that he was moving from shortstop to center field. He thought he had done enough this season to stay in the infield.
But the 6-foot-7 Cruz is hoping for a transition like the one for Tatis, another Dominican Republic native and former shortstop who is now considered one of the best right fielders in the majors.
“Not good news, but not bad, at the same time,” Cruz said Tuesday through a translator. “There’s some things that you can’t control as a player and that’s what the organization decided in that moment. I’m just going to do my best.
“I haven’t reached out to anybody yet. On my list is Fernando Tatis, for sure. He’s the closest to me. At some point, I will give him a call just to ask for advice and see how his process was.”
Tatis was an All-Star shortstop in 2021, but he injured his left shoulder twice that season and then broke his left wrist in a motorcycle accident that December. Both injuries ultimately required surgery. He also was hit with an 80-game PED suspension in August 2022.
Tatis won a Gold Glove last year, and Cruz aims to be equally successful in center.
“Every player that plays every position, you want to be the best at your position,” Cruz said. “If that’s the move, I’m going to try to do my best every day, become one of the best.
“I’ll say it this way, I’m going to be playing in the middle of the diamond, still, in the outfield. All I have to do is erase it from my mind that I was a shortstop and do my best out there as a center fielder.”
Cruz had 24 errors in 112 games at shortstop this season, second-most in the majors behind Cincinnati Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz (26). In six games from July 27-Aug. 2, Cruz committed seven errors, including three in a 5-4 loss to Houston on July 31.
The 25-year-old Cruz has three in 17 games since Aug. 3, not enough of a decrease to avoid the move to center.
Still, the final product could take time. Cruz will be the designated hitter for a second straight day Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.
Before batting practice, Cruz slowly walked to center before shagging a few balls.
“I watched it. It went well,” Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “He did a good job. He’s a really good athlete. Balls off machines, doing reads, doing breaks, he looked very natural.
“There are going to be bumps in the road and we understand that. There are going to be plays that are challenging for all outfielders. The initial watching him — breaks, reads, drop step — he was very good.”
There is no set date for Cruz’s outfield debut.
“If you leave it up to me, I would play center field today because that’s what their decision (is) and I would like to start as soon as possible,” Cruz said.
Exactly what Shelton hoped Cruz would say.
“I love that he said that. It’s good that he said that,” Shelton said. “Just get him a little bit of reps out there before we actually do it.”
Cruz said the decision took him by surprise, a definite factor in his disappointment. Shelton said he has already noticed a difference with Cruz when it comes to his acceptance of the change.
“There is a different smile on his face today,” Shelton said. “Did it take a day? Yeah, probably. I think we expected that.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz throws to first over Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford (36) to complete a ground out by Travis Jankowski in the second inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Lando Norris is only one of Max Verstappen's problems at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The other is his own car.
Verstappen needs to tame a car he's called a “monster” to hold off Norris and defend his Formula 1 title, all while the Red Bull team's years of dominance in Formula 1 seem to be nearing their end. Verstappen and Red Bull haven't won any of the last six races going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday.
Norris will now be favored by McLaren over teammate Oscar Piastri but will likely need some big slip-ups from Verstappen or Red Bull to overhaul the Dutch driver's 62-point lead in the last eight races of 2024,
The target is much closer in the constructor's standings, with the McLaren team just eight points behind Red Bull, so that lead could change hands in Azerbaijan on Sunday.
“There’s everything to play for,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Friday. “It only takes a couple of bad weekends and big weekends from Lando, and suddenly it’s an awful lot closer.”
New rivals to Red Bull are emerging, powered by Red Bull expertise.
The departure of Red Bull's car design guru Adrian Newey to Aston Martin is a sign of the long-term ambition of a team backed by billionaire Lawrence Stroll.
Dubbed “the team of the future” by driver Fernando Alonso, they have an eye on designing a car to exploit the new F1 regulations in 2026 — just like Newey did for Red Bull in 2022. Aston Martin has even signaled it would be open to signing Verstappen, who has a Red Bull contract through 2028.
Another key lieutenant to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, is leaving at the end of the season before heading up the ambitious new Audi works team arriving in 2026.
More immediately, there simply isn't much room to improve Red Bull's once-dominant car. McLaren and Mercedes seem to have more stable, adaptable designs.
The car "was basically on rails and I could do whatever I wanted,” enthused Verstappen after winning the Chinese Grand Prix in April, his fourth in five races at the start of the season. Each upgrade seems to have made the car less stable and increased tire wear.
"We basically went from a very dominant car to an undriveable car in the space of, what, six to eight months?” he said in Italy.
The confirmation that McLaren will have a “bias” toward Lando Norris over his teammate Oscar Piastri from now on should boost Norris' title challenge. But key questions remain unanswered.
Racing under the team's vaguely defined “papaya rules” — named for McLaren's orange color — at the Italian Grand Prix, Norris and Piastri started first and second but neither got the win.
Piastri overtook Norris early on, allowing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to get by too, and when Norris and Piastri competed to set fast lap times, it hurt their tires and let Leclerc take a win with smart strategy.
What “papaya rules” meant was never fully explained, other than not crashing into one another, and the team's “bias” is almost as mysterious.
Norris suggested Thursday that Piastri would be expected to hand over “lower positions” but would keep a win if he was “deserving” of it. Would there be repeat of the scenes at the Hungarian Grand Prix, when a team one-two was marred by awkward radio pleas for Norris to hand the lead back to Piastri? Unclear.
Red Bull showed signs of improved form in Baku as Verstappen was fastest in the first practice Friday, with Perez third, but crashes for Leclerc and Williams rookie Franco Colapinto brought out the red flag and limited everyone's track time.
Verstappen's last lap put him 0.313 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes, with Sergio Perez .063 further back in the second Red Bull. Norris was fourth-fastest and Piastri sixth.
Leclerc was fastest in the second practice, just .006 faster than Perez. Hamilton was third fastest, .066 off the pace. Verstappen was sixth after complaining his car was understeering. Norris was 17th but barely used the faster soft tires.
British teenager Oliver Bearman is back on the grid with Haas in Baku after Kevin Magnussen was suspended one race for picking up too many penalty points in a series of different incidents.
Bearman — who was seventh for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March — is the Formula 2 teammate of Kimi Antonelli, who's replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes next season. Bearman was 11th and 10th in his two practice sessions Friday.
Another F2 face lighting up F1 is Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams last month and was an impressive 12th on his debut in Italy. If he can break into the top 10, Colapinto would be the first driver from Argentina to score points since 1982, but his practice crash showed he's still learning a new track in Baku.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Haas driver Oliver Bearman of the United Kingdom in action during a Formula One Grand Prix practice in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Spain, left front, drives in front of his teammate Charles Leclerc of Monaco during a Formula One Grand Prix practice in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during a Formula One Grand Prix practice in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain in action during a Formula One Grand Prix practice in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during a Formula One Grand Prix practice in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Spectators enjoy a pre-race track walk at the Baku circuit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Spectators enjoy a pre-race track walk at the Baku circuit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, centre, celebrates on the podium with second placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, left, and third McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain after the Formula One Italian Grand Prix race at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Technicians work on the car of Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll of Canada in the team garage at the Baku circuit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept.12, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands gets a pit service during the Formula One Italian Grand Prix race at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. ({byline}/Pool Photo via AP)
