Deeper dives on John Cruz and Shane Sasaki

[Kevin Barral]

The Miami Marlins traded longtime utility man Jon Berti in exchange for two prospects with interesting offensive potential.

On Opening Day eve, the Miami Marlins struck a trade with the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays which brought them back outfield prospects John Cruz (Yankees) and Shane Sasaki (Rays). Jon Berti is now headed to New York while the Rays acquired catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Yankees.

John Cruz, 18, has spent two years in the Yankees system. Ranked as their number 28 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, the 6'3", 171-pound outfielder slashed .294/.376/.531/.907 with 10 home runs, 47 RBIs and a 131 wRC+ in the Florida Complex League. Although Cruz is said to have an aggressive approach, he only struck out at a 21.8% rate, lower than the league's 22.9% average. He also had a fine 10.9% walk rate. Between both of his years in the New York farm system, Cruz hit 15 home runs in 102 games.

"He's got power, somebody that we think is an interesting combination of power and ability to put the ball in play," said President of Baseball Operations Peter Bendix on Wednesday. "It's hard to know what an 18-year-old is, but it's a good tool set to add to the organization."

Cruz has quickly learned to hit the ball to all fields. In 2023, the MLB league-wide opposite field percentage was at 24.8%, but he was at 29.9%. Same goes with pull percentage, where the league average is 38.9% and he was at 50.0%. With prospects as young as Cruz who are challenged against much older competition, usually you see a high strikeout percentage followed by a high pull percentage with little to no opposite field hitting. Cruz is on the right path early on.

Defensively, there is a lot to like with the speed he possesses, but maybe a permanent move to right field would benefit him early on so he can become an overall better defender at the position. Speed is certainly what stands out when talking about Cruz. Through his two years in the Yankees system, he's stolen 19 bases.

It's too early to tell what Cruz can ultimately be as he is only 18 years old, but he has a lot of "helium" as talent evaluators like to say, a player with the chance to become one of the best prospects in all of baseball. Ideally, the Marlins would place Cruz at the Low-A level after a strong season in the FCL, but it wouldn't come as a surprise if Cruz were to start the season in the FCL for a couple at-bats before getting promoted to Jupiter midway through the season.

Shane Sasaki, who the Marlins acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays, is an interesting prospect as well. After struggling in 2019, Sasaki has never gone under the league average 100 wRC+, but at 23 years old, he hasn't seen action at the AA level. This offseason, Sasaki was left unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft, but as you may have guessed, he wasn't selected.

"Somebody I know a little bit better from my time with the Rays," said Bendix. "Pretty well-rounded outfielder. Speed-power combination, does a lot of things well. A little further along in his career, but somebody that we like the upside of."

In 2023, Sasaki slashed .301/.375/.465/.840 with seven home runs, 39 RBIs and a 130 wRC+. Power isn't the name of the game for this right-handed hitter, but he offers speed and good hitting fundamentals. An aggressive approach is one of the first cons for Sasaki, never posting a K% under 20%. Just like Cruz, Sasaki has a good balance between opposite field percentage and pull percentage, with both above the league averages.

Sasaki saw action in this past Arizona Fall League season where he slashed .259/.348/.333/.681 with nine RBIs and 13 stolen bases. On the downside, he struck out 31 times in 81 at-bats, which goes back to his aggressive approach at the plate.

Sasaki has the ability to play center field and stick there, but at the moment, it seems that his ceiling is most likely as a fourth outfielder, a versatile one at that. Although his success in the lower minors has been impressive, it's all about what he can do at the AA level where the quality of pitching is much better than what he's used to.

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[Slacker Mills]

What an odd trade. Marlins obviously get even worse for this season.