We have not had many of these this season, but yesterday was a great night for the Nationals bullpen. They tossed four scoreless innings, only allowing one hit and more importantly walking nobody. There were plenty of heroes last night, but Yovanny Cruz is the one I want to talk about today.
The flame throwing Cruz was the first man out of the bullpen last night. He gave the Nats 1.2 innings of fantastic work. It was by far the best version of Cruz that we have seen in DC. His stuff was nasty like
it always is. However, he showed much more pose and strike-throwing. Cruz also unleashed a new weapon with his sinker.
In most of Cruz’s 8 outings as a National, he has struggled to get ahead of hitters and establish his fastball. While Yovanny Cruz throws 100 MPH, his 4-seam fastball shape and command are not very good. That makes the pitch play down from its high velocity.
In August, Cruz lost confidence in his heater. Things reached a boiling point in a blown save against the Mets where he threw 13 straight sliders to end the game. Shortly after that outing, Cruz was sent to Triple-A to fix some of his issues. So far, it seems like the demotion has been a blessing in disguise for Cruz. His fastball was 100 MPH, but it was simply a bad pitch.
Last night, Cruz was pounding the zone with his fastballs. The plural in fastballs is a big deal here. Before being sent down, Cruz only had one fastball, his 4-seam. The pitch had triple digit velocity, but that alone was not enough. With his 4-seamer getting natural run anyways, a sinker always felt like a natural fit.
In his last couple outings, Cruz has shown that sinker quite a bit. Last night he actually used it more than his 4-seam. It worked like a charm and gave Cruz a new weapon. Just like his 4-seamer, Cruz throws his sinker in the triple digits. However, his sinker has much more run. It bores in on right handed hitters. He used the pitch to get Alec Bohm to weakly ground out.
While the 4-seamer may remain in his arsenal, I think the sinker will become Cruz’s primary fastball as he gains comfort with the pitch. It suits the way he throws and he gets a lot of movement on the sinker. The pitch also compliments his slider very well.
Before getting demoted, Cruz only really trusted his slider. The 27 year old had good reason to trust the pitch too. It averages 91 MPH and has filthy downward movement. He locates it reasonably well and gets a lot of whiffs. That slider is truly a special pitch, but he also needed a fastball to compliment it.
In Rochester, finding confidence in his fastball was the mission. Not only did he add the sinker, but his fastball command has looked sharper as well. Cruz has not been afraid to challenge hitters in the zone with his heater. Before, there were a lot of non-competitive misses with his fastball, but that was not the case last night.
Cruz actually did not strike out any batters last night. Honestly, I think that is a good thing in some ways. He was on the attack and forced hitters to beat him. While they made contact, the Phillies did not make any good contact against Cruz. It was all ground balls and lazy fly outs.
There were also not any walks, which is the most encouraging thing. In his first stint with the Nats, Cruz was very wild. He walked 6 batters in 5 innings during his August spell. Since coming back from Rochester, he has looked under control and relaxed.
Hopefully he can finish the year strong and take this success into next season. Cruz has all the stuff in the world, but he needed to fix a couple things. The early returns since coming back to the big leagues suggest he has made some tangible changes.
Not only does he have a new pitch, but Cruz also looks more confident and composed on the mound. If everything clicks for the flame-thrower, he can be a big piece in the Nats bullpen next season. For now, he remains a wild card, but at least he is back on track and improving.
