2026 Stats
W-L
4-2
ERA
2.25
WHIP
1.25
K
41
SV
1
Rest-of-Season Projections
2026 Fantasy Outlook
Cruz's splitter continues to be one of the most dominant pitches in all of baseball. In 2025, it produced a 56.6 percent whiff rate that was tops in the league for that pitch type, and was responsible for 63 of the right-hander's 72 strikeouts on the season. It's no wonder Cruz tossed his splitter a career-high 61 percent of the time last season. Among relief pitchers with a minimum of 40 innings in 2025, Cruz ranked fifth with a 36.0 percent strikeout rate. Walks were still an issue, but the Puerto Rican native gave the Yankees' bullpen a huge boost when healthy. Cruz missed two months of action last summer due to a strained left oblique, but returned before the end of August. The 35-year-old should open 2026 as one of New York's top setup men, but if closer David Bednar were to get hurt, Cruz could step into regular save chances for the first time in his career. Read Past Outlooks
Signed a one-year, $1.45 million contract with the Yankees in January of 2026.
Earns first save Tuesday
Cruz earned the save Tuesday against Cleveland, tossing 1.2 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and a walk as New York held on for a 3-2 win.
Analysis
With David Bednar having worked the previous two nights, Cruz was summoned in the eighth inning with one out and two runners aboard after Jake Bird ran into trouble -- Cruz immediately extinguished the threat by retiring the next two hitters. The right-hander returned for the ninth, and after issuing a leadoff walk, settled in by striking out the next three batters to secure the win. The outing was a reflection of the season Cruz has put together, as he has now held opponents scoreless in 13 of his last 14 appearances and sports a 1.84 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 37:15 K:BB across 29.1 innings. Cruz has earned additional save chances whenever Bednar is unavailable.
With David Bednar having worked the previous two nights, Cruz was summoned in the eighth inning with one out and two runners aboard after Jake Bird ran into trouble -- Cruz immediately extinguished the threat by retiring the next two hitters. The right-hander returned for the ninth, and after issuing a leadoff walk, settled in by striking out the next three batters to secure the win. The outing was a reflection of the season Cruz has put together, as he has now held opponents scoreless in 13 of his last 14 appearances and sports a 1.84 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 37:15 K:BB across 29.1 innings. Cruz has earned additional save chances whenever Bednar is unavailable.
Pitching Stats
Loading Pitching Stats...
2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
Minor League Game Log
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Loading Minor League Pitching Game Log...
Pitching Appearances Breakdown
Average Pitch Count
15
Last 10 Games
15
Last 5 Games
18
How many pitches does Fernando Cruz generally throw?
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61-70
71-80
81-90
91-100
101-110
111-120
121+
What part of the game does Fernando Cruz generally pitch?
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Extra
% Games Reaching Innings Threshold
% Games By Number of Innings Pitched
Left/Right Pitching Splits
Since 2024
-16%
BAA vs RHP
2026
-43%
BAA vs LHP
| BAA | K | BB | H | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2024vs Left | .222 | 86 | 36 | 51 | 9 | |||
| Since 2024vs Right | .187 | 136 | 42 | 57 | 7 | |||
| 2026vs Left | .132 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 2026vs Right | .233 | 22 | 9 | 14 | 1 | |||
| 2025vs Left | .225 | 26 | 8 | 16 | 2 | |||
| 2025vs Right | .168 | 46 | 16 | 17 | 3 | |||
| 2024vs Left | .264 | 41 | 18 | 28 | 6 | |||
| 2024vs Right | .181 | 68 | 17 | 26 | 3 | |||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | |||||||
Home/Away Pitching Splits
Since 2024
-21%
ERA on Road
2026
-19%
ERA at Home
| ERA | WHIP | IP | K/9 | BB/9 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Since 2024Home | 4.32 | 1.38 | 73.0 | 14.3 | 5.3 | ||||
| Since 2024Away | 3.42 | 1.15 | 73.2 | 13.0 | 4.3 | ||||
| 2026Home | 1.98 | 1.32 | 13.2 | 10.5 | 5.9 | ||||
| 2026Away | 2.45 | 1.20 | 18.1 | 12.3 | 4.9 | ||||
| 2025Home | 3.91 | 1.52 | 23.0 | 12.9 | 6.3 | ||||
| 2025Away | 3.24 | 0.88 | 25.0 | 14.0 | 2.9 | ||||
| 2024Home | 5.45 | 1.32 | 36.1 | 16.6 | 4.5 | ||||
| 2024Away | 4.15 | 1.35 | 30.1 | 12.5 | 5.0 | ||||
| More Splits→ | View More Split Stats | ||||||||
Stat Review
How does Fernando Cruz compare to other relievers?
This section compares his stats with all relief pitcher seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 30 innings)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
* Exit Velocity, Barrels/BBE %, Balls Hit 95+ MPH %, and Spin Rate are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 30 IP). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
K/BB
2.16K/9
11.5BB/9
5.3HR/9
0.6Fastball
93.2 mphERA
2.25WHIP
1.25BABIP
.278GB/FB
0.57Left On Base
83.3%Exit Velocity
79.6 mphBarrels/BBE
4.2%Spin Rate
1635 rpmBalls Hit 95+ MPH
16.8%Swinging Strike
16.6%Advanced Pitching Stats
Loading Advanced Pitching Stats...
Defensive Stats
Loading MLB Defensive Stats...
Stats Vs Today's Lineup
Want more matchup stats?
Loading Matchup Stats...
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Subscribe Now
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2025
2024
Cruz was one of Cincinnati's highest leverage relievers over the past two seasons, accumulating a 4.88 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 207:63 K:BB over 132.2 innings with the Reds. However, a trade to the Yankees likely bumps him down to a lower leverage middle relief role for 2025. The 34-year-old righty continues to rack up a ton of strikeouts (109 in 2024) with one of the filthiest splitters (.116 BAA, .149 SLG, 59.3 percent whiff) in the league, but his secondary offerings get crushed and his 11.4 percent career walk rate cannot be ignored.
More Fantasy News
Nabs 11th hold
Cruz earned a hold against Cleveland on Thursday with a perfect inning of work.
Analysis
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Second win of season
Cruz (2-0) earned the win over the Astros on Saturday after not allowing a run over two-thirds of an inning, walking one and striking out two.
Analysis
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Nabs win in relief Tuesday
Cruz (1-0) earned the win over the Athletics on Tuesday, walking two batters and striking out one over 1.1 hitless and scoreless innings.
Analysis
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Agrees to deal with Yanks
Cruz signed a one-year, $1.45 million contract with the Yankees to avoid arbitration Thursday, Jack Curry of YES Network reports.
Analysis
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Reinstated from injured list
The Yankees activated Cruz (oblique) from the 15-day injured list Tuesday.
Analysis
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.