SF Giants: Why adding RHP Jose Cruz to the 40-man roster was the right call

The SF Giants surprised many by protecting several lesser-known prospects from the Rule 5 Draft earlier this month. Wrenzie Regodon explains why relatively unknown Jose Cruz was on the list.

A few days ago, the SF Giants added six prospects to the 40-man roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 Draft. There were a couple of no-brainer decisions, like adding top prospects Marco Luciano and Luis Matos. There were also older prospects like Keaton Winn and Tristan Beck, who have had success in the upper minors and seem close to reaching the majors. One prospect, on the other hand, fit neither of those categories. His name was Jose Cruz.

Jose Cruz is a right-handed relief pitcher who spent all of 2022 at Single-A with the San Jose Giants. He appeared in 38 games with the squad and posted a 2.06 ERA mainly in the back end of the bullpen. Let's make some sense out of why the Giants made the decision to protect a 22-year-old reliever who has yet to reach High-A.

Jose Cruz punched out 3 batters over his single inning of relief, topping at 98mph, to close out Tuesday’s victory over Stockton pic.twitter.com/OMV3EvQQhM

— SFGProspects (@SFGProspects) June 25, 2022

First and foremost, Cruz is a strikeout machine. After toying with Rookie League hitters throughout his career, he struck out a whopping 42.6% of the batters he faced this season. Even in the lower minors, those numbers are good enough to draw attention in the Rule 5 Draft. Most importantly, pitch-tracking data gives fans even more reason to believe in Cruz.

What powers Cruz's exceptional penchant for striking out batters is a unique combination of stuff and release height. Cruz has built-in deception in his delivery due to a crossfire in his delivery that creates a low three-quarters arm slot. This naturally accentuates pitches with arm-side movement and gives his fastball above-average rise. Those characteristics play up given his fastball's velocity, which constantly clocks in the mid-90s and has reached 98 mph. His high-80s changeup is easily his best secondary pitch and has flashed plus potential with some exceptional fade.

Cruz's mechanics have some drawbacks. While it promotes pitches with arm-side movement, his slider does not get the same benefit. It still has the potential to be an average pitch, but it is easily his least-developed offering.

The fade on Cruz's pitches makes him particularly nasty against lefties, which should help him avoid the ugly platoon splits that can often hinder pitchers with a low three-quarters arm slot. Lefties hit a putrid .095 with a .388 OPS against Cruz with a .388 OPS in 2022. RIghties did not fare much better, hitting .133.

Cruz's strikeout numbers come with a price as his below-average command led to a 11.4% walk rate. Bringing those numbers down will be the biggest focus of his development in 2023. It's worth keeping in mind, though, that the Giants pushed Cruz into consistent multi-inning outings. In fact, he recorded at least four outs in 17 of his 38 appearances. With more traditional reliever usage, Cruz's walk (and strikeout) numbers would be expected to improve.

Cruz likely beat out an older right-handed reliever, Nick Avila, for this spot on the 40-man roster. Avila is nearly three years older than Cruz, but has already reached Double-A. He was the most effective reliever in the Giants farm system last season, recording a 1.14 ERA between High-A and Double-A with 16 saves in 55.1 innings pitched. Avila already has above-average command and four potentially average big-league offerings. However, he only struck out 58 hitters in 55.1 innings pitched, a solid number, but far from Cruz's standout strikeout rate.

Avila could easily hear his name called in the Rule 5 Draft this winter, but the Giants have decent upper minors bullpen depth with players like Gregory Santos, R.J. Dabovich, and Cole Waites all expected to start next year in the Triple-A bullpen. Cruz may be further away from reaching his full potential, but he also has a much better chance of becoming a dominant force in a big-league bullpen. The SF Giants are willing to risk Nick Avila becoming a solid middle reliever with another team if it means they have a chance at seeing Jose Cruz become an elite setup man.