Players · C · Pitcher · 2026 regular season

Steven Cruz

Kansas City Royals American League Central

Age: 27
B/T: R/R
Height: 6' 7"
Weight: 225 lb
Number: #64

Born: June 15, 1999 in Tenares, Dominican Republic
MLB debut: August 29, 2023

Compare with…vs Paul Sewald vs Tyler Zuber vs Caleb Thielbar

dbWAR: .3
IP: 58.2
ERA: 4.30
FIP: 5.17
K/9: 10.0
FIP−: 124

Steven Cruz is a relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals. In 2026 he struck out 65 batters over 58.2 innings across 56 appearances, going 2-4. His ERA of 4.30 was 2.7% higher than the league average of 4.18 — 10th of 19 on his team, and 309th of 539 among MLB pitchers with 20+ innings. Stripping out defence, his 5.17 FIP suggests that his ERA had some help behind him. He missed bats on 28.6% of swings (15.2% of every pitch he threw), walked 8.1% of the batters he faced and struck out 26.4%. His -0.2 dbWAR is built from that FIP rather than runs allowed, so it credits him for what he controls and not for the defence behind him.

League context

Percentile among qualified pitchers, 2026 regular season.

FIP5.17

K/910.0

WHIP1.26

WAR-.2

WAR by season

Pitching Regular season

Standard and advanced, by season. Regular-season games only.


2026	KC	56	2	58.2	2	4	8	54	28	65	20	4.30	5.17	1.26	10.0	3.1	103	124	-0.2
2025	KC	47	0	45.2	3	1	0	36	19	38	18	3.74	4.14	1.18	7.5	3.5	90	100	0.3
2024	KC	5	0	5.2	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	0.00	1.75	0.18	6.4	0.0	0	43	0.2
2023	KC	10	4	12.2	0	0	0	11	7	15	11	4.97	4.76	1.74	10.7	7.8	115	110	0.1

Platoon splits

How left- and right-handed hitters fare against him.

Season

Opponent batting by the side the hitter bats from, 2026. Counted from play-by-play, so totals can differ from the box-score season line by a plate appearance or two.
Split	PA	AB	H	HR	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	K%
vs LHB	147	133	30	10	11	42	.226	.295	.474	.328	28.6%
vs RHB	99	88	24	4	9	23	.273	.347	.443	.350	23.2%

Pitch sequencing

What Steven Cruz throws in each count, and what he follows each pitch with. Select any cell for the breakdown.

ShowBatter

Four-seamCutterSlider

Select a count to see exactly what Steven Cruz throws in it.

Pitch arsenal

What he throws, how hard, how often it misses, and what hitters do with it.

Season


Four-Seam Fastball	56.2%	523	98.5	2,202	52.8%	29.2%	116	.267	.843
Cutter	28.5%	265	93.9	2,136	46.4%	29.3%	64	.219	.588
Slider	14.9%	139	89.5	2,175	41.7%	23.5%	41	.220	.848

Steven Cruz's arsenal by usage. Velocity is average release speed in mph, spin in rpm, and whiff rate is misses per swing — the cleanest single measure of whether a pitch beats hitters. BAA and OPS are what hitters did against each pitch, credited to the one that ended the plate appearance, and are left blank under 15 at-bats.

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Similar players

Nearest 2026 seasons by command, run prevention and role, on rate statistics rather than totals.

Caleb ThielbarCHC

ERA: 4.86
FIP: 4.70
SO: 60
WAR: 0.0

Very close

Chase ShugartPHI

ERA: 4.02
FIP: 4.67
SO: 59
WAR: 0.1

Beau BrieskeDET

ERA: 4.97
FIP: 4.60
SO: 24
WAR: 0.0

Eduard BazardoSEA

ERA: 4.01
FIP: 4.74
SO: 70
WAR: -0.1

How these are computed

wOBA uses linear weights measured from this season's own play-by-play rather than published constants, and wRC+ is park-adjusted against that same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page.