Yankees Reliever Returns to Stabilize Bullpen

Fernando Cruz hasn't missed a beat since the New York Yankees activated him from the IL. Cruz has been so good that if he did have any rust, nobody would have noticed. He has displayed the type of poise and dominant stuff they hoped to get from Devin Williams, but his acquisition during the winter didn't come with the same fanfare. Considering how dependable he has been all year, his recent success should come as no surprise.

Cruz put together another solid appearance in game four of the four-game set against the Chicago White Sox. Relieving Luis Gil in the sixth inning, he immediately induced a double play. When Curtis Mead swung at a splitter that dropped out of the zone, the result was a weak groundball that dribbled into Anthony Volpe's glove.

His day was not done after the double play. Cruz came out again in the seventh and, despite that inning of work not going as quickly as the last, he still dominated. Cruz struck out two, getting Will Robertson to whiff on his splitter, and then had Chase Meidroth go down on strikes after he foul-tipped a sinker into Ben Rice's glove. Michael A. Taylor proceeded to go down on one pitch, grounding out softly to end the inning. The Yankees did not win the game, but their loss did not fall on Cruz's hands.

A strong seventh inning from Fernando Cruz pic.twitter.com/6v69PW8D8s
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 31, 2025

The reliever has been great from the moment he was activated. In his return to the mound against the Washington Nationals, Cruz struck out two of the four batters he faced. He generated five whiffs in .2 innings, despite giving up two hits.

Cruz ended up pitching in three of the four games in the White Sox series. In game one, he struck out one in an inning of work. In game two, he did the same, striking out one batter.

The strikeout stuff was expected. Cruz's splitter is one of the nastiest in the game, with it having a 59.6% whiff rate. The big surprise so far, though, is that he hasn't walked anyone yet. Cruz has pitched four innings following his activation and hasn't issued a single free pass. Call it an unexpected bout of Cruz control, because he had a 12.2% walk rate last year with the Cincinnati Reds and a 9.9% walk rate in 2025.

Manager Aaron Boone has thrown Fernando Cruz into the fire, but dropping him into big spots so fast was to be expected. Boone said as much after he was activated earlier this week.

"All hands on deck; here we go," said Boone. "I'm not going to shy away from him. We'll be careful with back-to-backs, especially on a longer outing and things like that. We'll try to take care of him as best we can, but it's also go time and we expect him to be a key part of the 'pen moving forward."

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