Jason Mackey

You know, the low line drive, I could have lived with that if he would have caught the other one and he had sunglasses on his head.

It's the fact that that didn't happen.

I mean, that is a tough play to read.

And he's a relatively new center fielder.

I'm not making excuses for him.

Both plays need to be made.

I'm just trying to talk through this a little bit.

And like last night, again, the center fielder has priority on all those balls to his left and his right coming in.

Like there's a hierarchy of

on a baseball field who has priority in certain plays.

And so I don't blame Cruz for that one.

But in the past, has there been a lack of focus?

Has there been a lack of consistency?

Absolutely.

That's a fair criticism.

And he needs to put that to bed this season.

You know what I find fascinating about the Cruz discussion, Bob?

We can look at somebody like Jake Mangum and say, oh, he's a great player, he's fun, he's an energy guy, he does this and that, and you sort of love up Jake Mangum.

Jake Mangum improved a lot in his late 20s.

And in this same conversation, Pirates fans will say O'Neal Cruz can't improve in his late 20s.