'Cruz-ing' in Relief

How Steven Cruz is breaking out to bolster the Royals bullpen

Photo courtesy of AP/Charlie Riedel

When Kansas City traded Michael A. Taylor on Jan. 24, 2023, it felt like a bit of a foregone conclusion. Taylor, entering his age-32 season and the final year of a two-year, $9 million extension, was coming off back-to-back campaigns of 3+ bWAR behind his standout defensive work in center field paired with a passable bat.

With one year left on his deal, he was a bit of an obvious trade candidate for a franchise going through a major transition. Just four months earlier, Kansas City fired President of Baseball Operations Dayton Moore. Top lieutenant JJ Picollo took over and committed to being more transactional, which, at the very least, should include moving on from veterans running short on team control — particularly entering an evaluation season.

The return for Taylor was, at the time, somewhat nondescript: Minnesota packaged a pair of minor league relievers, left-hander Evan Sisk and right-handed fireballer Steven Cruz, to lock down one season of a Major League outfielder.

In the years since, the Royals have seen flashes of brilliance mixed with a lack of control from the now-25-year-old Cruz, whose double-digit walk rates in 2023 with Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha were cause for concern.

Via TJ Stats

Cruz earned a cup of coffee late that season, making his Major League debut on Aug. 29, 2023, and firing 12.2 innings with the Royals the rest of the way to the tune of a 4.97 ERA and 1.74 WHIP with a 24.2% strikeout rate and ghastly 17.7% walk rate.

While cutting back on his sinker and four-seam usage with Omaha in 2024, Cruz ramped up his reliance on an 89 MPH slider and trimmed the walk rate from 14.4% across two minor league levels the year before to 11%, leading to a 51.1 inning campaign with a 3.33 ERA and 1.31 WHIP. He parlayed those efforts into another late-season call-up, tossing 5.2 frames for KC in August and September with four strikeouts, one hit allowed and — most importantly — zero free passes.

Via TJ Stats

The obvious improvements in the control department carried over to Spring Training this year as Cruz tossed seven innings in Big League camp, working a 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and .185 average allowed with a quality 29.5% CSW, 27.6% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate.

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