Alexander Wilson
Nobody knew who Yovanny Cruz was when the New York Yankees signed him off the minor league free agent market in November. The Red Sox had let him walk after a Double-A season in which his command was too volatile to trust, and he arrived in Tampa as an afterthought on a transaction wire that nobody bookmarked.
Then he touched 101 mph in his spring debut against the Braves, sat down Matt Olson and Austin Riley on 15 pitches, and suddenly everyone wanted to know the name on the back of that jersey.
What He Did This Spring
Cruz was reassigned to minor league camp this week, but he goes down having done something genuinely impressive across three innings. The sample is small enough that reading too much into it would be a mistake, but the underlying velocity and the shape of his stuff are not things you can manufacture. His sinker averaged 100.6 mph and topped out at 101.5 in his debut. He paired it with an 89.8 mph cutter that generated whiffs at a rate that made professional hitters look uncomfortable.
Over three total innings, he posted a 0.00 ERA with a 15.00 K/9 and a 0.00 walk rate, allowing no runs and striking out five. Again, three innings. But three very loud innings.
“It’s been exciting to see him in the strike zone as much as he has been in these three outings,” Aaron Boone said. “He’s definitely got our attention.”
That quote matters because the command has always been Cruz’s problem. His 2025 season with the Red Sox in Double-A saw him post a 3.03 ERA and a respectable 10.92 K/9 across 59.1 innings, but he was walking 6.67 batters per nine. That is too many. Over the previous three seasons in the Cubs and Padres organizations, his walk rate consistently flirted with or exceeded 10%. When you are throwing 100 mph and cannot find the zone, big league hitters wait you out and you never actually hurt anyone.
The spring numbers suggest something may have clicked mechanically. An injury limited his action and pushed him behind the curve for Opening Day consideration, but the results when he did pitch were not just about velocity. He was throwing strikes. Whether that holds over a full minor league season is the real question.
Why He Could Matter in 2026
I think Cruz has a real shot to contribute out of this bullpen before the season is over, and I mean that more seriously than a typical “keep an eye on him” hedge. The Yankees lost Devin Williams and Luke Weaver this offseason, and while David Bednar and Camilo Doval are capable arms, depth at the back end of a bullpen matters over 162 games. Boone was direct about the long view when asked about Cruz. “More importantly, he’ll be in the mix over the long haul, too,” the manager told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner.
A few weeks of consistent strike throwing in Triple-A is all this needs to become a real conversation. The Bombers have demonstrated an ability to develop pitchers others gave up on, and Cruz fits the profile of an arm that pitching coach Matt Blake can work with: raw, powerful, and in need of mechanical refinement rather than rebuilding from scratch.
At 26, his timeline is tighter than a prospect who is 22. But triple-digit velocity does not care about age, and if the command gains from this spring are real, the Yankees may have found something genuinely useful on the minor league waiver wire.
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