Graded 2022 Stadium Club Chrome Oneil Cruz #237 Rookie RC Baseball Card PSA 10 Gem Mint

⚾ Graded 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Oneil Cruz #237 Rookie RC Baseball Card — PSA 10 GEM MINT — The Perfectly Graded Premium Chromium Rookie Card of the Pittsburgh Pirates' Six-Foot-Seven Shortstop From Sabana Grande de Boya Dominican Republic, the Tallest Player Ever to Start Regularly at Shortstop in Major League Baseball, Whose Combination of Elite Speed, Raw Power, and Defensive Range at a Premium Position Makes Him One of the Most Unique Players in the Game

⚾ There is a physical profile that defensive baseball orthodoxy would tell you cannot work at shortstop — the position that demands lateral quickness, a compact throwing delivery, and the kind of footwork in tight spaces that benefits from a lower center of gravity and a shorter distance between the player's hands and the ground. Shortstops are not supposed to be six feet seven inches tall. The position has been defined by players built closer to the ground — the Ozzie Smiths and Omar Vizquels and Derek Jeters of the world — whose athleticism operated on a scale that maximized the quick-twitch movements the position demands. Oneil Cruz is not that player. He is 6-foot-7, born October 4, 1998, in Sabana Grande de Boya in the Monte Plata province of the Dominican Republic — a community in the eastern part of the country that is part of the great Dominican baseball development tradition that has made the island one of the most prolific producers of major league talent anywhere in the world — and he plays shortstop, at that height, with a combination of range, arm strength, and athleticism that has made him one of the most talked-about young players in the sport.

⚾ Cruz signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent, was included in the Sergio Romo trade to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017, and developed through the Pirates system as one of the most intriguing prospects the organization had cultivated — a player whose physical tools were so extreme that the questions about his positional fit were constant, and whose answers to those questions during his development and eventual debut with Pittsburgh in the early 2020s have been compelling. His bat generates exit velocities that rank among the highest in the major leagues — the combination of his height, lever length, and bat speed producing the kind of power potential that is rare at any position and essentially unprecedented at shortstop. His sprint times in the outfield and on the basepaths have placed him among the fastest runners in the game, a counterintuitive combination with his size that makes him unlike any player who has preceded him.

⚾ The 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome product is one of the premium chromium releases in the Topps baseball calendar — the Chrome version of Stadium Club, Topps' premium photography-forward brand that emphasizes full-bleed, high-quality imagery in a chromium format. Card #237 places Cruz in the 2022 Stadium Club Chrome checklist as a Rookie RC during his first full season with Pittsburgh. Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) awarded this card PSA 10 GEM MINT — the highest possible grade. Condition: NOS.

⚾ Oneil Cruz. Sabana Grande de Boya, Dominican Republic. Pittsburgh Pirates. 6-Foot-7 Shortstop. Tallest Regular Shortstop in MLB History. Elite Speed. Elite Power. 2022 Topps Stadium Club Chrome #237 Rookie RC. PSA 10 GEM MINT. Hall of Fame Sports Memorabilia. Condition: NOS.