Steven resides in Tenares, D.R...Anne Rogers of MLB.com wrote an article on July 21 that revealed Steven painted Carlos Estévez’s cleats for the 2025 All-Star Game, a skill he learned from former minor league teammate Jorge Bonifacio.
2025
Cruz began the 2025 season in Triple-A Omaha before being recalled on April 11...remained with the Royals until Aug. 3, when he was placed on the IL with a right shoulder impingement, which forced him to miss 42 games...His cutter averaged 93.7 mph, the sixth-highest average velocity on a cutter in the Majors (min. 150 cutters), behind Emmanuel Clase (98.9 mph), Camilo Doval (98.1), Graham Ashcraft (97.1), Corbin Burnes (94.1) and Spencer Schwellenbach (94.1)…Held left-handed hitters to a .183 average (13-for71) with two extra-base hits and a .239 slugging pct., which ranked sixth in the American League (min. 75 LHB faced)…Earned his first Major League win on May 9 vs. Boston as he retired the final two batters in the 12th inning before a walk-off single by Freddy Fermin...Began his stint in the Majors with 13 scoreless outings (11.2 IP) from April 11-May 11, during which he allowed just three hits (all singles) and four walks...He allowed three runs (2 ER) on May 12, snapping a 19.1-inning scoreless streak that dated back to Sept. 27, 2023 and was the second-longest active scoreless streak in the Majors at the time...Allowed a solo home run to Patrick Bailey on May 21 in San Francisco, snapping a 32.0-inning homerless streak that dated back to his Major League debut on Aug. 29, 2023 vs. Pittsburgh (Liover Peguero)…Had a 2.68 ERA (11 ER in 37.0 IP) in 37 outings before the All-Star break, with a .182 opponents’ average (24-for-132).
2024
Cruz appeared in five games across three stints with the Royals, from June 20-22, Aug. 28-Sept. 5 and Sept. 17-25...In five outings with the Royals in 2024, he retired 17 of 18 batters, allowing one hit with four strikeouts...Spent most of the season with Triple-A Omaha, where he went 6-1 with three saves in 47 appearances and posted a 3.33 ERA (19 ER in 51.1 IP) and 56 strikeouts.
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.
