Track Record: After signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2017, Cruz moved through the minors fairly anonymously until breaking out in 2022. He lowered his arm slot and switched from a four-seam to a two-seam fastball, which led to an outstanding season and culminated with a spot on the 40-man roster. He split the 2023 season between High-A Eugene and Double-A Richmond, where he ran into serious control issues.
Scouting Report: Cruz works primarily with his two-seamer and changeup, and each projects to be above-average or better. He sprinkles in a slider as well, but it is well below-average and stands as a clear third pitch in his arsenal. He delivers all three pitches from a low slot with a crossfire finish that creates plenty of deception. Now Cruz needs to figure out how to improve his control and command while maintaining the same level of deception. He ran into big-time issues at Double-A, where his strike rate dropped from 65% to just 55% and he issued 31 walks in 25.2 innings.
The Future: There’s little question about Cruz’s stuff, but it won’t mean much if he can’t find the strike zone consistently. Further development of his slider would give hitters another wrinkle to consider.
Scouting Grades Fastball: 60 | Slider: 30 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 40
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