NEW YORK -- Watching the last several games from the Yankees’ bullpen, Yovanny Cruz had been chatting frequently with Fernando Cruz (no relation), who sensed the rookie right-hander’s nerves.
“Remember to breathe,” the veteran reliever told Cruz. “Breathe in. Breathe out. Keep it simple out there and just focus on the job.”
That advice paid off on Wednesday. Cruz impressed in an electric Major League debut, striking out three over two perfect innings in a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays.
The Yankees have been searching for answers within a bullpen that has sprung leaks over the past several weeks; in Cruz, a 26-year-old who spent eight years grinding through the Minors, they just might have found one.
"There’s opportunity there for a lot of people right now to really cement roles for themselves or establish roles for themselves,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It was really good to see Yovanny come up and throw the ball that way. That’s kind of who we saw at the back end of Spring Training when he finally got into a couple of games late.”
Cruz touched 100.9 mph and averaged 99.8 mph with his fastball on Wednesday, also snapping off a slider that averaged 90.5 mph. Though his command has been an issue at times in the Minors, 13 of his 15 pitches on Wednesday were strikes.
“Going back to Triple-A, it’s been part of the focus to be in the zone to attack,” Cruz said. “I use dummies [in the batter’s box] when doing sides. I think all of that has helped me a lot.”
The Yankees selected Cruz to the big league roster on Monday, when they decided to schedule Gerrit Cole to face the Rays on Friday and optioned rookie Elmer Rodriguez to the Minors.
It was an off-day in the Minors, and Cruz said he was about to go to lunch with a few Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre teammates when he received a phone call from his manager, Shelley Duncan.
“You’re late,” Duncan told a confused Cruz, who asked what he was late for.
“The big leagues.”
It hasn’t been a straight line to The Show for Cruz, who hails from San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic and began his pro career as a 17-year-old Cubs prospect in the Dominican Summer League back in 2017.
The Yankees signed him to a Minor League contract this past November following Double-A stints with the Padres (2024) and Red Sox (2025).
He got off to a sharp start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year, posting a 0.69 ERA over his first 13 innings. At the time of his promotion, he had a 3.00 ERA in 15 appearances, with 14 hits allowed, nine walks and 23 strikeouts in 18 innings.
"It was a long road to get here,” Cruz said. “A lot of injuries, a lot of things that I had to overcome.”
Cruz said he thanked God “about 200 times” as he warmed up in the bullpen on Wednesday, then steeled his mind to be aggressive.
“They’re a good team,” he said of the Blue Jays. “I’m not taking any of those hitters lightly. I just wanted to attack the hitters and focus on what I wanted to do there. I got the results I wanted.”
Cruz made his second appearance in Thursday’s 2-0 loss, which didn’t go quite as smoothly. He faced three batters, recording a flyout before surrendering an Ernie Clement double and hitting Andrés Giménez with a pitch.
After the game, New York optioned Cruz and outfielder Spencer Jones to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, freeing up space on the roster to activate Cole and likely José Caballero for Friday’s series opener against the AL East-leading Rays.
But after seeing how Cruz handled his first taste of the big leagues, his next opportunity shouldn’t be far off.
“You see what he’s capable of when he’s filling up the strike zone,” Boone said. “You saw the swing-and-miss, the stuff. And on top of it, it was really cool to see someone realize their dream of getting to the big leagues. Everyone’s journey is different, and I think he wore that on his sleeve.”