Pirates' Oneil Cruz encounters issue because of WBC time
This is a different kind of spring.
Pirates' Oneil Cruz encounters issue because of WBC time originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Oneil Cruz played for one of the most potent teams at the World Baseball Classic, the Dominican Republic.
The problem with that? The Pittsburgh Pirates ' star hardly played. It makes for a very unusual spring for him, one that will be hard to quantify until the season gets rolling.
In the time Cruz was away with the Dominican Republic, he likely would've gotten 30-40 plate appearances with the Pirates in Spring Training. With the D. R.
, he came to the plate eight times. On the bright side, he went 3-for-5 with three walks, so maybe he's totally good to go. MORE: Cubs' Daniel Palencia completes improbable rise for Venezuela But there are some hitters who really need to get their full spring worth of work to be ready for Opening Day.