The New York Yankees made blockbuster trades to acquire proven stars like Devin Williams and Cody Bellinger this offseason, but an under-the-radar deal to land Fernando Cruz is looking like the best of all thus far. Cruz has pitched like one of the best relievers in the Majors.
The Yankees acquired Cruz from the Cincinnati Reds in late December, sending Jose Trevino to the Queen City. While losing Trevino hurt to an extent, this deal felt like a steal for the Yankees at the time it went down. And even with Trevino playing well in a Reds uniform, the Yankees have watched Cruz blossom into a star.
Cruz has always put up monster strikeout numbers, but the righty is pitching as well as he ever has under Matt Blake's tutelage. His emergence couldn't have come at a better time, also, with Williams struggling to begin his Yankees career.
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Fernando Cruz looks like one of the best relievers in baseball in a Yankees uniform
In his 21 appearances with the Yankees, Cruz has been utterly dominant. He has a 2.66 ERA in 23.2 innings of work, and he has struck out 35 batters while only handing out eight free passes. While a 2.66 ERA might appear to be a bit high for a reliever who I believe is as good as it gets in the league right now, six of the seven earned runs he's allowed came in two rough outings. He has been just about spotless in his other 19 appearances, working mostly as the team's primary set-up man.
Cruz ranks in the 100th percentile with a 47.5 percent whiff rate, the 99th percentile with a 37.6 percent strikeout rate and the 96th percentile in average exit velocity, according to Baseball Savant. This essentially means that making contact against Cruz is incredibly difficult to do, and when a hitter does put the ball into play, it's hit weakly. Chances are, that combination is going to lead to great results, and it most certainly has for Cruz.
Cruz's best pitch has always been his splitter. The Yankees made the adjustment of having him throw it more (57.5 percent usage compared to 41.7 percent in 2024) and it's worked wonders for him. Not only has the splitter been dominant, but with his four-seam fastball usage taking a massive dip, opponents are hitting just .111 against that pitch with a 37.5 percent whiff rate. Opponents hit .295 against his four-seamer last season with a 14.3 percent whiff rate, while he threw the pitch roughly 15 percent more often.
Blake is known to take pitchers with great stuff who might've been inconsistent with another team and turn them into dominant relievers. Cruz is no exception. Perhaps the best part about the trade is that Cruz is under club control through the 2028 campaign; he might be 35 years old right now, but the Yankees will almost certainly get the remaining great years Cruz has in him, and will have him at a fraction of what he'd be worth on the open market.
Brian Cashman gets a lot of flak from Yankees fans, but this deal looks like a home run. Cruz is absolutely the real deal.