"It's like Aaron Judge" - Pirates skipper makes bold claim about Paul Skenes' $800,000 teammate

The Pittsburgh Pirates have faced significant challenges in the MLB over the past decade. The team's last postseason appearance was in 2015, when they had the talents of Gerrit Cole, Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte in their ranks. Since then, Pittsburgh has finished fourth or fifth in the National League Central eight times.

Despite their struggles, Pirates skipper Derek Shelton, who has been at the helm since 2020, sees a better future for the club with Paul Skenes on board. Shelton is particularly fond of outfielder Oneil Cruz and has even drawn comparison between him and New York Yankee captain Aaron Judge. In the most recent episode of The Chris Rose Rotation, Shelton discussed what makes Cruz similar to Judge:

"It's like Aaron Judge, but right handed," said Shelton. "You have to make sure that you're reacting quickly," he added. (28:28 onwards)

"His best tool is that he hits the ball very hard. He hit a ball last year at PNC Park that off the bat, my first thought was it was going to k*ll somebody over the Clemente wall. It was just a rocket of a line drive and somebody in the first row just have to move out of the way."

Pirates manager Derek Shelton shares Oneil Cruz's developments

Shelton also spoke about the developments and changes that Cruz went through since getting sent to the Pirates in 2017:

"The most important thing is that we got him away from shortstop and freed him up. The strides he took last year were big."

"A huge factor is him just getting reps and playing on the field because he has the ability to do so many things to impact the game in so many ways but he just missed so much time. Missing time is just miserable as you can't get back up to game speed without doing it."

After a few seasons in the minors, Cruz was finally added to the main roster at the end of 2019. However, due to the pandemic, he wasn't able to register a game in 2020. Over the next few years, he fluctuated between Triple-A and the main squad. Unfortunately, at the start of the 2023 season, he fractured his left fibula, effectively ruling him out for the entire year.