Steven Cruz #40

Steven resides in Tenares, D.R... The scout who signed him with Minnesota, Fred Guerrero, was hired by the Royals in 2024 as the Coordinator of Player Evaluation.

2023

In his first season in the Royals organization in 2023, he recorded nine saves in 43 appearances with a 3.81 ERA (21 ER in 49.2 IP) and 64 strikeouts (11.6 K/9) between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha... Named Triple-A Omaha’s Pitcher of the Month for August, during which eight of his nine outings were scoreless and he held opponents to a .114 average... He was selected on Aug. 29 and made his Major League debut vs. Pittsburgh that night, when he was charged with four runs on three hits and three walks while recording just two outs... In his last nine appearances (four starts) following his debut, Cruz recorded a 2.25 ERA (3 ER in 12.0 IP) and held opponents to a .182 average (8-for-44)...The Royals deployed an opener in eight September games, including four started by Cruz…the Royals went 3-1 in Cruz’s four starts and in the opener role, he had a 1.59 ERA (1 ER in 5.2 IP) with 7 strikeouts (11.1 K/9)...Seven of his 10 big league outings were scoreless...He threw his four-seam fastball 107 times in the big leagues—accounting for 43.9% of his pitches—and it averaged 97.7 mph... Cruz pitched a career-high 67.1 innings in 2023, including 49.2 innings in the Minors, 12.2 innings in the big leagues and 5.0 innings in the Dominican Winter League.