TAMPA — Growing up in Puerto Rico, Fernando Cruz had a zero-tolerance policy.
The relief pitcher would not stand for any trash talking of his beloved Yankees. If you were going to disrespect his favorite team — and new employer — you had to brace yourself for a shouting match.
“I’ve always been a diehard Yankee fan,” Cruz told the Daily News. “When I was in middle school, I used to fight because you would never talk to me negatively against the Yankees. If you did, we were gonna have a discussion or an argument. We’d have to fight.”
Cruz clarified that his passion for the Bombers never led to physical altercations, “but I was gonna defend my Yankees,” he insisted.
Spoken like a rowdy Bleacher Creature, Cruz is now living a “dream come true” after being acquired in an offseason trade that sent catcher Jose Trevino to the Reds. The 34-year-old said “idols” like Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were his “inspirations to be a baseball player,” and he’s eagerly awaiting the chance to help the Yankees secure their 28th championship.
“It just means the world to me and my family,” Cruz said. “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.”
Still, Cruz called his trade to the Yankees “bittersweet.” That’s because he feels deep appreciation for the opportunity Cincinnati afforded him after traversing a wandering path to the big leagues.
Here’s a good look at new #Yankees RP Fernando Cruz: pic.twitter.com/87Dm1W9ZXT
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) February 18, 2025
Drafted by the Royals out of high school as a shortstop in 2007, Cruz didn’t debut until 2022. He didn’t start pitching until 2011, spent the 2015 season in the Cubs’ system, and was released by Chicago in March 2016. He then played exclusively in foreign and independent leagues until the Reds signed him to a minor league deal in February 2022.
Still learning 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 Series, 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 said. “I had to go through a lot of ups and downs in my journey.”
Despite the nomadic route, Cruz always believed the big leagues were in his future. A devout Christian, he had faith in himself and a right arm that had earned him attention since his adolescent years.
“I knew I had something special,” Cruz said. “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 special stuff turned out to be a devastating splitter, which Cruz first learned from a Puerto Rican Winter League teammate, Benny Cepeda, in 2012.
Cepeda actually threw a forkball, and he showed the grip to Cruz. From there, Cruz experimented during bullpen sessions and eventually developed his splitter.
“The splitter is disgusting,” Yankees catcher Austin Wells said. “I was just happy to catch the ball when he threw it.”
60 Seconds of Fernando Cruz Splitter Whiffspic.twitter.com/LaxNOEan4g
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) December 21, 2024
The splitter wasn’t always nasty, as Cruz initially lacked command of his signature pitch, routinely hitting batters and spiking balls in the dirt when he dared to throw it in games. As the pitch improved, it became a two-strike offering.
Now it’s Cruz’s go-to pitch, no matter the count, thanks to 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.”
Sure enough, Cruz debuted in September 2022 at age 32. He recorded a 1.23 ERA over 14 games while 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 K% overall.
“It has a little bit of cut to it,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said. “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 lethal weapon, Cruz posted ERAs close to 5.00 in each of the last two seasons while totaling 127 appearances. That’s a lot of runs over a solid sample, but the Yankees expect Cruz to get high-leverage opportunities in 2025.
Blake believes Cruz can post prettier numbers if he improves his sinker and limits slug on his fastball and cutter. Blake added that Cruz might “mess around” with some breaking balls.
But like Weathers, Blake wants Cruz to throw his splitter even more while locating it better. If Cruz can do all that, he might be tougher against lefties, who slashed .264/.371/.519 against him last season.
Getting Cruz to throw his splitter more shouldn’t be hard, as he knows he owes a lot of his success to it.
“It got me to the big leagues,” he said.