New York Yankees Reliever Reaching New Heights With One of Nastiest Pitches in MLB

One of the New York Yankees' projected strengths coming into the 2025 campaign was their bullpen.

Former MLB executive Jim Bowden thought very highly of the relief staff the team had put together, giving them a strong grade in his preseason overviews of rosters, and it was easy to see why.

All-Star closer Devin Williams was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in a trade to bolster the back end. Luke Weaver was coming off a dominant showing as the closer during the playoffs in place of Clay Holmes.

The team had excellent depth to work with in middle relief with Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill and Mark Leiter. 

Williams has struggled mightily, but the other have gotten the job done. Weaver is off to a historic start garnering a lot of headlines, but he isn’t the only reliever who deserves attention.

Another pitcher who does is Fernando Cruz.

Acquired from the Cincinnati Reds in an offseason trade, along with catcher Austin Jackson in exchange for veteran Jose Trevino, Cruz has been lights out in the start of his tenure with the Yankees.

At 35 years old, he has surprisingly taken his game to another level.

Possessing a dynamic arm with electric stuff, Cruz had 228 strikeouts in 147.1 innings during his career with the Reds. He struck out 109 in 66.2 innings alone in 2024, but has a chance to surpass those numbers with New York.

Cruz has made 11 appearances thus far, recording a 2.08 ERA while throwing 13 innings and already racking up 21 strikeouts. That translates to a strikeout rate of 42%, which would be a career high.

The pitch that has led to this level of success is his splitter, which is one of the nastiest offerings in the MLB.

As shared by Michael Salfino of The Athletic (subscription required), Cruz had an eye-popping 55.6% whiff rate when throwing his splitter entering play on April 23. His xERA was an elite 1.87.

Where he has found success is neutralizing splits and platoons.

As a right-handed pitcher, he has had no issues putting away left-handed hitters.

Lefties are 2-for-18 against him, striking out nine times. That makes Cruz a valuable weapon for manager Aaron Boone because he can turn to Cruz at any point in the game regardless of who the opponent has coming up in the order.

Expect his role to increase as the season moves along.

With strikeout stuff that he possesses, Cruz is built for high-leverage, late-game situations, especially if he can keep his walks in check.