TAMPA — Rising up in Puerto Rico, Fernando Cruz had a zero-tolerance coverage.
The aid pitcher wouldn’t stand for any trash speaking of his beloved Yankees. Should you have been going to disrespect his favourite staff — and new employer — you needed to brace your self for a shouting match.
Cruz clarified that his ardour for the Bombers by no means led to bodily altercations, “but I was gonna defend my Yankees,” he insisted.
Spoken like a rowdy Bleacher Creature, Cruz is now dwelling a “dream come true” after being acquired in an offseason commerce that despatched catcher Jose Trevino to the Reds. The 34-year-old stated “idols” like Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have been his “inspirations to be a baseball player,” and he’s eagerly awaiting the prospect to assist the Yankees safe their twenty eighth championship.
“It just means the world to me and my family,” Cruz stated. “Everyone that knows me knows what it means to me to have the pinstripes on.
“We celebrated like we won the World Series as a family.”
Nonetheless, Cruz referred to as his commerce to the Yankees “bittersweet.” That’s as a result of he feels deep appreciation for the chance Cincinnati afforded him after traversing a wandering path to the large leagues.
This is a superb have a look at new #Yankees RP Fernando Cruz: pic.twitter.com/87Dm1W9ZXT
Drafted by the Royals out of highschool as a shortstop in 2007, Cruz didn’t debut till 2022. He didn’t begin pitching till 2011, spent the 2015 season within the Cubs’ system, and was launched by Chicago in March 2016. He then performed solely in international and impartial leagues till the Reds signed him to a minor league deal in February 2022.
Nonetheless studying find out how to pitch, Cruz suited up for the New Jersey Jackals, the Puerto Rican Winter League, the Venezuelan Winter League, the Dominican Winter League, the Caribbean Sequence, the Mexican League, the Mexican Pacific Winter League, and the Autumn Mexican League.
“It took a lot of courage, perseverance and persistence to get where I am right now,” Cruz stated. “I had to go through a lot of ups and downs in my journey.”
Regardless of the nomadic route, Cruz all the time believed the large leagues have been in his future. A religious Christian, he had religion in himself and a proper arm that had earned him consideration since his adolescent years.
“I knew I had something special,” Cruz stated. “I’ve always had a great arm. I knew something was going to happen because I had special stuff. I just needed to refine it.”
That particular stuff turned out to be a devastating splitter, which Cruz first realized from a Puerto Rican Winter League teammate, Benny Cepeda, in 2012.
Cepeda truly threw a forkball, and he confirmed the grip to Cruz. From there, Cruz experimented throughout bullpen classes and ultimately developed his splitter.
“The splitter is disgusting,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells stated. “I was just happy to catch the ball when he threw it.”
60 Seconds of Fernando Cruz Splitter Whiffspic.twitter.com/LaxNOEan4g
The splitter wasn’t all the time nasty, as Cruz initially lacked command of his signature pitch, routinely hitting batters and spiking balls within the filth when he dared to throw it in video games. Because the pitch improved, it turned a two-strike providing.
Now it’s Cruz’s go-to pitch, regardless of the depend, because of Casey Weathers. He coached Cruz with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate.
“’You need to throw this more,” Cruz remembers Weathers telling him in 2022. “Nobody’s gonna hit this.”
Certain sufficient, Cruz debuted in September 2022 at age 32. He recorded a 1.23 ERA over 14 video games whereas throwing his splitter 29.2% of the time.
In 2024, Cruz threw his splitter 41.9% of the time. It generated a 59.3 Whiff%, and he ended his season with a 37.8 Okay% general.
“It has a little bit of cut to it,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake stated. “It comes out of his hand and it’s hard to read exactly what it’s going to do, but it generates a lot of really early swings. Guys have a hard time staying back on it. It’s kind of got a little bit of that glitch pitch quality to it.”
Even with a deadly weapon, Cruz posted ERAs shut to five.00 in every of the final two seasons whereas totaling 127 appearances. That’s plenty of runs over a strong pattern, however the Yankees anticipate Cruz to get high-leverage alternatives in 2025.
Blake believes Cruz can publish prettier numbers if he improves his sinker and limits slug on his fastball and cutter. Blake added that Cruz may “mess around” with some breaking balls.
However like Weathers, Blake needs Cruz to throw his splitter much more whereas finding it higher. If Cruz can do all that, he is likely to be more durable towards lefties, who slashed .264/.371/.519 towards him final season.
Getting Cruz to throw his splitter extra shouldn’t be onerous, as he is aware of he owes plenty of his success to it.
“It got me to the big leagues,” he stated.
Initially Revealed: February 22, 2025 at 7:30 AM EST
