Fernando Cruz struck out all three batters he faced on Sunday.
That shouldn’t be a surprise.
The New York Yankees right-handed reliever does that better than anyone in baseball, for real. After his three strikeouts in the Yanks’ come-from-behind win over the Orioles, Cruz leads all of Major League Baseball in strikeout rate.
Cruz has faced 123 batters. He has struck out 50 of them. That’s 40.7% of the hitters he faced that have been sent back to the dugout with a K.
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It’s been an absolutely astonishing rise for Cruz, a 35-year old from Puerto Rico.
He was chosen in the sixth round of the 2007 MLB Draft by the Royals.
Then, he spent the next 15 years in the minor leagues.
His MLB debut didn’t come until 2022 with the Reds.
All three of his Reds seasons featured more than a strikeout per inning, but the last two featured ERAs approaching 5.
The Yankees gave him a shot, though, and Cruz hasn’t disappointed.
This is a guy who spent the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons away from MLB-affiliated ball altogether. He pitched well in the Mexican League in 2021 to catch the Reds’ eye.
And now, he’s one of the best pitchers wearing pinstripes, throwing maybe the nastiest splitter in the entire league. Cruz is quite the story.
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