Navy Baseball Star Reliever Reflects on Achieving Huge Career Milestone

The Navy Midshipmen apparently know how to find good pitchers, even if they come to campus to play another position.

Recently pitcher Landon Kruer, Navy’s senior closer, became the Patriot League’s all-time leader in saves.

He achieved the record during the first game of a doubleheader against the Bucknell Bison on March 22. The save was his fourth of the season. But it was also the 29th of his Midshipmen career, moving him into the all-time lead in the Patriot League. He has the rest of this season to add to the mark.

During a recent appearance on the Anchors Aweigh podcast, hosted by Capital Gazette Communications’ Bill Miller, Kruer reflected on the honor and what it’s meant to him to play at Navy all four years.

“I mean it's obviously just been an accumulation over my four years here,” he said. “It's just an honor to be able to do this and to kind of be where I am currently in the role that I am in. It’s just been an honor, and I love pitching in the close games and the high-tension moments. It has been an honor that I've been able to do this so well and to achieve what I did this year.”

Kruer notched seven saves his freshman season in 2022, one in which he was named a Collegiate Baseball freshman all-American and a NCBWA first team freshman all-American.

His sophomore season in 2023 he finished with nine saves and was named to the All-Patriot League second team and to the NCBWA stopper of the year award midseason watch list. Last season he saved nine more games.

The incredible part of Kruer’s journey is that he didn’t necessarily come to the Naval Academy to play baseball. He wasn’t recruited out of Our Lady of Providence in Sellersburg, Ind. In fact, as Miller learned, Kruer wasn’t even a pitcher in high school. He was a catcher.

He went to plebe summer, played with the team and was good enough to be invited back to the team when he started in the fall of 2021. He spent that entire semester as a catcher — until just before Christmas break. Then, he was asked to give pitching a try.

“At one point we had a lot of catchers and not very many pitchers, so they ultimately were like, ‘Krue, you’ve got a halfway decent arm, get on the mound and let’s see you throw a couple of pitchers this bullpen,’ Kruer said. “I was (throwing) 86 to 88 (mph), just straight fastballs and then a week later I threw another one it was 88-89 (mph). And, then in final meeting before Christmas break the coaches were like, ‘Krue when you come back you're going to be a two-way. We like you at catcher, but we also need arms in the bullpen so you're going to do both.’”

He's never caught a game for the Midshipmen. But he’s emerged as the best reliever in program history.