This story was excerpted from Bryan Hoch's Yankees Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
NEW YORK -- Fernando Cruz still remembers the sound.
On the outside walls of his boyhood home in Puerto Rico, baseballs smacked against the concrete and siding hard enough to leave dents and scuffs -- the markings of a skinny 10-year-old who was not merely playing in the yard. In his mind, he was standing in Yankee Stadium, picturing himself in pinstripes.
His mother rarely had time to sit in the stands for games, busy working at the family’s mini market in Dorado. But she saw those marks on the house, and she recognized her son’s passion. Years later, when Cruz feared the dream had slipped away, she gave him the words that kept his career alive:
“Don’t quit, please,” Virginia Manon told her son. “God has something really, really special for you.”
Cruz remembers the conversation vividly. It was 2011, and the Royals had converted him from a position player into a pitcher, sending him to a Rookie league. With tears in his eyes and pain coursing through his right shoulder, Cruz dialed home from an Arizona hotel room.
“I was really struggling,” Cruz said. “I was crying, I was depressed. I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know what else to do. This is my last shot and it’s not going well.’ My arm hurt. And she went to those words.
“She said, ‘Keep going. I know your heart. Since you were a little kid, it was a big deal for you to play baseball. You have to keep going and trust in the process.’
"Every time I have struggled or had negative thoughts, I always go back to those words. That set the tone for everything.”
Cruz believes that his mother, who passed away in 2021 at age 69, could see what was to come. He describes her as having a strong connection with God, saying, “She was driven by a divine power in Jesus Christ. And it was a drastic moment, when she went to those words.”
To reach the Major Leagues, Cruz needed extraordinary patience.
Kansas City released him after the 2012 season, and after two seasons out of affiliated ball, the Cubs gave him an opportunity -- only to release him late in March 2016. He had landed in the Puerto Rican Winter League by 2019, when Cruz and his mother had another pivotal conversation.
“2019 was the best year of my life, statistically,” said Cruz, who pitched to a 0.40 ERA in 18 appearances for Santurce. “We were sitting and she said, ‘Son, next year won’t be the year, but you’ve got to keep going. There is something waiting for you.’”
The COVID-19 pandemic would limit Cruz’s opportunities until 2021, when his strong performance in the Mexican League produced a Minor League contract with the Reds. By then, Cruz’s mother was ill, battling brain cancer. She never got to see him reach the Majors.
“But she knew something,” Cruz said. “She could discern so many things. My mom was a special human; she had intimacy with the Lord. She prayed a lot, and I think that’s what it is all about.”
Cruz said he has followed that example, especially in recent years. He traces the shift to a moment last spring, his first year with the Yankees after being acquired in a December trade. He was struggling, pitching to a 9.95 ERA -- numbers that have been all but forgotten now.
What he found, Cruz said, was Philippians 1:6 -- a Bible verse promising God would complete His “good work.” It’s a message Cruz has taken to heart.
“That’s the one that I go to every day,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if I get recognition. I’m here because I have a purpose. I’m here because God has put me here to do great things. That’s what motivates me. That word of encouragement means, stay still, because I’m going to finish what I started.”
As Mother’s Day approaches, Cruz will be filled with gratitude for his mother and his wife, Omaley.
“I have an MVP at home, taking care of my four kids,” he said. “That’s why my mind is in order and I can have the discipline I have. My mom is resting in peace and with the Lord, so it is all about my wife when it comes to Mother’s Day. I really appreciate it and I’m really grateful.”