{"id":96198,"date":"2025-02-23T22:49:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=96198"},"modified":"2025-02-23T22:51:49","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:51:49","slug":"yankees-elmer-rodriguez-cruz-audition-promotion-spring-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/23\/yankees-elmer-rodriguez-cruz-audition-promotion-spring-training\/","title":{"rendered":"A Spectacular Spring Could Mean Quick Advancement for Yankees Pitching Prospect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/20\/yankees-bullpen-looking-dominant-2025-season\/\" target=\"_self\">Spring training<\/a> is in full swing, and the New York Yankees are right into it, three games in. As the players shake the rust off and slowly ramp up, management will zone in on possible promotions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=rodrig000elm&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz<\/a> will be one of those focuses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The focus around the team as of late has primarily been on free agents, possible additions, and the Yankees&#8217; main stock. But the grassroots of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/01\/17\/michael-arias-yankees-pitching-prospects\/\" target=\"_self\">farm system<\/a> is and will continue to be important to the future of the club. An intriguing part of that equation is Rodriguez-Cruz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rodriguez-Cruz is a right-handed pitcher that the Yankees acquired back in December. He was sent over from the Boston Red Sox, along with cash considerations, in exchange for catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/narvaca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-23_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Narv\u00e1ez<\/a>. He was a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/21\/yankees-top-prospect-undergoes-tj\/\" target=\"_self\">top prospect in Boston<\/a>. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rodriguez-Cruz has shown strong potential to climb his way through the Yankees&#8217; ranks. 2025 will be a meaningful year for his development and career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz\u2019s Background and Early Career\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The right-handed starter is originally from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. He was drafted in the fourth round of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/07\/15\/mayer-fabian-lead-red-sox-draft\/\" target=\"_self\">2021 MLB Draft<\/a>, out of Leadership Christian Academy in Puerto Rico.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rodriguez-Cruz started his professional journey in 2022, splitting between Rookie ball and Low-A. In two separate leagues that season, Rodriguez-Cruz threw 38 1\/3 innings with clean work and dominant stuff.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He struck out 42 batters, only walking 15, allowing eight earned runs on only 31 hits. His finishing ERA was 1.88.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, his innings increased to 55 1\/3, allowing 43 hits, 16 earned runs, struck out 51 strikeouts, and 27 walks. He recorded a 2.60 ERA that season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q-H2mDtebQ4?si=U7O2rj_VlBENeV0K\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Last Season Was a Stock-Builder<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rodriguez-Cruz opened eyes in 2024, and his 2023 season jolted him up to <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/video\/elmer-rodriguez-cruz-s-seventh-strikeout-x2368\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">High-A<\/a>. He spent time between both sides of A-ball. The right-handed pitcher totaled 89 2\/3 innings between both leagues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He struck out a wild 102 hitters, walking only 43, and allowing only 29 earned runs and 65 hits. His ERA barely increased to 2.91 in 21 games. This performance was not only numerically intriguing, but his physical outings were outstanding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rodriguez-Cruz\u2019s 2025 season could very well begin in Double-A. A hot spring training showout can advance him to the next level, putting him on a good pace to advance to the big leagues. He\u2019s shown a strong ability to compete on the mound with a legit starter demeanor and ability to go deep into his outings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Rodriguez-Cruz\u2019s Scouting Synopsis\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Newly acquired <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Yankees?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Yankees<\/a> prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz was a consensus top-30 prospect in the Red Sox organization:<\/p>\n<p>FanGraphs: #7<br \/>\nMLB Pipeline: #13<br \/>\nBaseball America: #20<br \/>\nSoxProspects: #25<\/p>\n<p>He has reached 99 MPH on his fastball and is only 21-years-old. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/U0lTVEbL1L\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/U0lTVEbL1L<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ryan Garcia (@RyanGarciaESM) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanGarciaESM\/status\/1867025062437552506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 12, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The starter stands a strong 6\u20193\u201d at a slim-athletic build, weighing 160 lbs. He has long limbs, lifted by a consistent leg kick, whipping arm action, an over-the-top, well-balanced finish, and a strong turnover.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He has a four-pitch mix, led by a developed fastball from 91-93 mph, now up to 99 mph with good control and run. All three of his off-speed and breaking options are used effectively, with his slider being his out-pitch, sitting in the upper 80s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His curveball sweeps with good depth and works in the upper 70s to low 80s, followed by a splitter that mixes well when needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This spring camp will be huge for the young starter. He can tiptoe on the edge to the next level or even advance to Double-A off the bat with a solid showing. Rodriguez-Cruz will be under the microscope this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spring training is in full swing, and the New York Yankees are right into it, three games in. As the players shake the rust off and slowly ramp up, management will zone in on possible promotions. Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz will be one of those focuses.\u00a0 The focus around the team as of late has primarily been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5126,"featured_media":96202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,926],"tags":[28906,895],"class_list":["post-96198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-yankees","category-milb","tag-elmer-rodriguez-cruz","tag-spring-training"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96198"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96206,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96198\/revisions\/96206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}