0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Scouting grades: Hit: 40 | Power: 55 | Run: 55 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 45The Dominican-born Cruz attracted attention on the 2022 international market, but a $200,000 deal fell through with a team. He trained at Mejia Top 10 Academy, which also produced Cubs shortstop prospects Jefferson Rojas and Cristian Hernandez, so Chicago knew Cruz well and stayed on him when he moved to Florida for his final two years of high school. He was difficult to scout last spring because he had knee surgery in November 2023 and wasn't completely healthy until late in his senior year, but the Cubs believed he was a top-two-rounds talent and made him a surprise third-round pick in July, luring him away from a Miami commitment with a below-slot $620,000 bonus. Cruz played in the Arizona Complex League in his first taste of the pros, slashing .270/.314/.431 with a 91 wRC+ before he was traded to the Nationals at the Deadline in a package for Michael Soroka.With a quick right-handed swing and projectable strength in his still-growing 6-foot-2 frame, Cruz already displays plus raw power in batting practice. He generated some of the highest exit velocities during BP at the MLB Draft Combine and could produce 25 or more homers on an annual basis once he's fully developed. There are questions about his hitting ability because he can be overly aggressive and doesn't have much history facing quality pitching, and those concerns remain after his ACL stint.Cruz isn't especially quick out of the batter's box but flashed plus straight-line speed after turning pro with his knee fully healthy. Out of the Draft, Chicago believed he has the actions and plus arm strength to remain at shortstop, and if he outgrows the position, center field could be Plan B. Even if he needs to move to third base with the Nationals, he has the tools to handle himself there too. By getting Cruz before his 19th birthday, Washington should get to control the long road of his development as an upside play.
The Cubs signed Cruz for $620,000 (the slot value at his pick was $826,000) in the 2024 third round, which was enough for him to forgo his commitment to Miami. Cruz was born in the D.R. but went to high school in South Florida and showed impressive raw power at the 2024 Draft Combine (though he was one of the event's slower runners). He began 2025 as part of the Cubs Extended Spring Training group and spent the summer in the ACL where Cruz slashed .270/.314/.431 with 18 extra-base hits in 48 games. Cruz has already begun to get stronger and develop more power, candidly faster than I would have guessed considering how wiry and skinny he looked at the Combine. His under-the-hood TrackMan data corroborates this, Cruz's peak exit (110 max, 105.5 EV90) and hard hit rate (43%) are all in the ballpark of the Major League average already, and he isn't done growing. We didn't know a ton about Cruz's contact ability entering the year because he wasn't a showcase fixture in high school, and the timing of the draft and earlier end of Complex ball means Cruz didn't play affiliated pro games in 2024 after he signed. What we learned this summer was that Cruz is most comfortable covering the down-and-in portion of the strike zone, and shows some ability to get extended and cover the up-and-away quadrant with oppo doubles power. A looming issue is Cruz's plate discipline. He has poor ball/strike recognition and was swing-happy all summer. Defensively, Cruz has soft hands on the dirt and enough arm for the left side of the infield, but he's not a quick-twitch athlete and his lateral range might deteriorate as his frame continues to mature. There's sizeable power-hiting upside here, but also risk Cruz's hit ool bottoms out because of his swing decisions.
Stole his 10th already yesterday. Up to 1.145 OPS now after going 3-4 yesterday.
DeBartolo acquisition?
Promoted to Wilmington Baseball America podcast a few days ago says he’s for real. Chase rate is a little high (but not prohibitively or unfixably) but he does everything else really well. Says he could be a top 75 prospect before long.
I'm guessing some of this is to unpack the shortstops at Fredericksburg, but it's incredibly impressive for the Nats to think he can handle it after just 189 PAs in the complex league last year and 63 in A ball.
Went yard in his first AB
Soroka deal
Good trade. May turn out better than Roark/Guzman trade.
Soroka got hurt right away, but judging off how he's pitched this year, he might have been worth it in terms of his value once "fixed."
Over his first 14 games and 63 plate appearances with the FredNats, Cruz posted a .333/.460/.627 slash line, good for a 1.087 OPS to go along with 3 homers, 14 RBIs, a 9:15 BB:K ratio, and an absolutely absurd 15 stolen bases.What is even crazier is Cruz stole 12 bases just last week alone, and as a result he will now join fellow touted infielders Devin Fitz-Gerald and Angel Feliz with the Blue Rocks, which has notoriously been a much more difficult place to hit for prospects.
