Yankees appear to have found a good one in Fernando Cruz

Yankees relief pitcher Fernando Cruz reacts after rightfielder Cody Bellinger caught a fly by Kansas City Royals’ MJ Melendez to end a game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
TAMPA, Fla. — The Yankees have had their share of successes in recent years finding diamonds in the rough in the reliever department.
They've added pitchers with hardly impressive resumes — scooped up more or less on the cheap, whether it be via minor trade that caused barely a ripple or perhaps signed to a minor-league contract — and they've become key contributors.
Clay Holmes, Wandy Peralta, Ian Hamilton and Luke Weaver are a few examples. Fernando Cruz looks as if he might be another.
The 35-year-old righthander, acquired from the Reds in the offseason along with catcher Alex Jackson for backup catcher Jose Trevino, has been as significant a piece as any in what has been one of the game’s best bullpens.
Cruz, a sixth-round pick of the Royals — who drafted him as a shortstop — in 2007, didn’t make his big-league debut until 2022 at the age of 32 with Cincinnati. He posted a 4.52 ERA across three seasons with the Reds.
Cruz, who possesses a nasty splitter, struck out 228 batters in 147 1/3 innings in that three-year stretch. The Yankees took note of that and felt something could be harnessed.
Something has been.
Cruz, who struggled during spring training — he put up a 9.95 ERA in seven games, though he did strike out 11 in 6 1/3 innings — has a 2.53 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in nine regular-season games. After striking out two of three batters in the eighth inning of Friday night’s 1-0 victory over the Rays, Cruz has 18 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings.
“It’s amazing how many bad swings,'' Aaron Boone said after Friday’s game, referring to Cruz’s splitter, before pausing. “I’ve never seen that many bad swings from good hitters, going back to spring training. I think we’re up to about 25 [rewatching on video], where it looks like they’ve never hit before sometimes when he executes it.”
Cruz, who called his splitter “my gift from God,” said he “changed practically everything” during spring training to get where he’s at now.
“I added, I subtracted pitches, we moved around the mound, we did a lot of adjustments mechanically, I was going through a lot in spring training,” said Cruz, who also uses a sinker and slider, though neither of those as much as the splitter. “But it was a process I embraced.”
He added: “I’m really confident right now in all my pitches. Everything we worked on in spring training for six weeks, it’s paying off.”
Anthony Volpe, from his position at shortstop, has as good a view as anyone of Cruz’s splitter.
“From behind, it’s just the swings that make it look nasty,” Volpe said. “I faced him in the spring [during simulated games], and it doesn’t even make sense. You feel like you’re right on it, and you watch the video, and you swung and it’s like halfway there. From my perspective in the box, I’m glad he’s on our team. We don’t have to face him.”
Jazz's appeal to be heard soon
Jazz Chisholm Jr., fined $5,000 by MLB for getting ejected from Thursday night’s game here and suspended one game for subsequently taking to X to post something about the ejection minutes after it occurred, said his appeal is slated for sometime “next week.” The suspension came about because Chisholm violated MLB's rule on using electronic devices of any kind during a game.
Somewhat humorously, Chisholm said Saturday afternoon that perhaps there is some “gray area” there because, having been ejected, he technically wasn’t playing anymore.
“I’m not in the game,” Chisholm said.
It is an argument that is highly unlikely to result in his suspension being lifted.
Said Chisholm, “I don’t really care that much if I win it or not.”
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