Pablo Cruz (minors01)

Pablo Neftalí Cruz Hernández
(Chino)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 158 lb.

• Born March 21, 1945 in San Francisco de Macoris, Duarte D.R.

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Pablo Cruz spent three seasons at AAA yet never made the majors. He scouted for over 20 years, signing dozens of major leaguers. His son Ismael Cruz also was a scout.

Cruz initially signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he spent his entire playing career and much of his scouting career. He debuted with the 1965 Gastonia Pirates and hit .219/.277/.305 with 22 steals in 30 tries. He made 50 errors at short but that did not lead Western Carolinas League players at that spot as two players had 55. He played for the Tigres del Licey that winter to start a 15-year Dominican League career. Back with Gastonia in '66, Pablo batted .313/.418/.472 with a career-high 31 doubles and 11 homers. He had 70 walks, 54 steals in 65 tries and 95 runs. He led the WCL in steals (16 ahead of runner-up and teammate Freddie Patek) and times caught stealing, was second in doubles (one behind Jim Glover), ranked 4th in average (behind Danny Walton and Larry Bowa) and was second in runs (3 shy of the lead). He fielded just .861 at SS, with 47 errors in 78 games, well behind teammate Patek's .946, let alone Bowa's .972. He added 11 more errors in 32 contests at second.

With the 1967 Macon Peaches, Cruz played mostly outfield, hitting .256/.299/.325. He batted .246/.326/.306 with 74 runs and 7 triples (tied for 8th in the Carolina League in 1968 for the Salem Rebels. Back at short, he fielded .931, a big improvement. He led the league with 18 sacrifice hits. In '69, Cruz fielded .930 at short for the York Pirates and posted a batting line of .282/.339/.351, while scoring 72 runs. He was 9th in the Eastern League in average, tied Patrick Locanto for the most sacrifice hits (11) and tied for 10th in runs. He led EL shortstops with 44 errors but also with 378 assist and 74 double plays. He also saved a game with a hitless, scoreless inning, though he walked two. He was named the EL All-Star shortstop for his efforts.

Pablo made it to AAA in 1970 with the Columbus Jets and hit .269/.348/.328 with 15 steals in 22 tries and 75 runs. He led 1970 IL shortstops in every department except fielding percentage: games (133), putouts (208), assists (362), errors (34) and double plays (79). His offensive numbers were comparable to IL All-Star SS Frank Baker, though he fielded 21 points lower and Baker had more assists and putouts per game.

With the Charleston Charlies in 1971, Cruz's batting line slipped to .228/.295/.275 and he split action with Frank Taveras. By '72, he was back down to AA with the Sherbrooke Pirates, fielding only .845 as a backup infielder and batting .223/.283/.266. In 1973, he was a productive backup outfielder for Sherbrooke, hitting .284/.414/.331. That year, Pittsburgh hired him as a part-time Dominican scout as well, even though his playing career was not over.

Cruz was down to A ball in 1974 and a starter once more, batting .326/.398/.391 for the Salem Pirates. He was third in the Carolina League in average, behind Frank Grundler and Miguel Dilone, first in hit-by-pitch (12), tied with Jose Caldera for first in sacrifice hits (14), tied for 4th with Alfredo Edmead with 145 hits and 7th in OBP (between Mitchell Page and Edmead) while fielding .956 at second. He failed to get the All-Star nod at 2B, which went to Charles Meyers instead. In a sad note from that year, he collided with teammate Edmead (a player Cruz had signed as a scout) on a fly from Murray Gage-Cole of the Rocky Mount Phillies; Edmead's head hit Cruz's knees and Edmead died from massive brain injuries that took place.

The next year, he hit .283/.338/.315 as a utility man for Salem and would have ranked 7th in the league in average had he qualified.

The veteran had a fine year for Salem in 1977, hitting .341/.400/.437 with 79 runs. He was 6th in the league in runs, 3rd in average (between Eugenio Cotes and Wade Boggs) and 7th in OBP. He led second basemen with 26 errors, fielding .934 there, and lost out All-Star honors at 2B to Luis Aguayo. In his final season as a player, 1978, Cruz remained a good contact threat, hitting .302/.343/.377 in 80 games for Salem and .280/.321/.318 in 37 games for the Columbus Clippers. Had he qualified, he would have been 7th in the Carolina League in average, between Wally Backman and Elijah Bonaparte.

After his playing career ended, Cruz became a full-time scout for the Pirates; he also would scout for the Montréal Expos, Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox and New York Mets, though he was most notable for his time with the Bucs. He signed Moisés Alou, Tony Peña, Aramis Ramírez, Félix Fermín, José Guillén, Pascual Pérez, José Lind, Orlando Merced, José de León, Denio González, Nelson Norman, Rubén Rodríguez, Michael Martinez, Silvio Martínez, Hipólito Peña, Ravelo Manzanillo, Cecilio Guante, JJose Castillo, Ronny Paulino, Rafael Belliard, Roberto Novoa and many more.

Sources

• 1966-1979 Baseball Guides
• 2012 article on Cruz's career

Related Sites

Sports Illustrated article