Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz: Cruising Along At Double-A  

Bridgewater, New Jersey – The Yankees made a slew of roster moves last offseason in hopes of constructing a team capable of making another run back to the World Series. Time will be the verdict on how those ultimately pan out, but one of the stealth deals that General Manager Brian Cashman negotiated may turn out to be significant not necessarily for the 2025 version of the club, but for the franchises starting rotation in the not-too-distant future.

In his two starts this past week, @Yankees No. 6 prospect Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz went 2-0 with 15 K in 13.0 scoreless innings pitched. In both games, he defeated Mets No. 2 prospect Jonah Tong. pic.twitter.com/f1esw2mwgd

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 11, 2025

The Bombers dealt away former Patriots backstop Carlos Narvaez to Boston in exchange for Red Sox No.13 ranked prospect, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz. Narvaez broke camp with the Sox and flashed as a regular in Boston - his success brought forth early outside criticism. After slashing .273/.347/.439 heading into the All-Star break, Narvaez has gone just .137/.170/.314 since.

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Rodriguez-Cruz chose to mute all of the external noise and pressure to live up to the proverbial return of his trade-counterpart. Instead, the righty has rapidly and convincingly entered the conversation as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball with a dominant 2025 campaign. The negative pundits have seemingly quieted with each of the 1,800 pitches he has tossed entering action on Saturday.

“I don’t pay attention to that,” Rodriguez-Cruz admitted. “That’s good that he [Narvaez] is doing well there - I just think about myself and how I can help the Yankees in the future and think about what my role is here. Every single thing I see I just bring it as fuel for me just to keep working hard and get the chance to be there in the bigs.”

Rodriguez-Cruz added, “It’s not every day that you see a Yankees-Boston trade. It was unexpected; I had just got home, and I got the phone call about it. It was kind of mixed feelings there; obviously, I am thankful for all of the time there in Boston, but now just thankful for being here with the Yankees and excited moving forward.”

In his first season with the Yankees organization Rodriguez-Cruz has fanned 129 batters in a career-high 115.2 innings of work, which is the fifth best mark in all of minor league baseball entering action on 8/15. The native of Puerto Rico, who was drafted as a 17-year-old by Boston in 2021, leads all Yankees full-season minor leaguers in ERA (2.02), HR/9 (0.16), BAA (.173), and WHIP (1.01) while ranking second in strikeouts.

"Ever since I got here, [the Yankees] are letting me pitch and letting me execute."

After getting traded from the Red Sox in December, Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (@Yankees No. 6 prospect) explained what his new organization has taught him. pic.twitter.com/jI3Y5dzn1s

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) August 10, 2025

“One of my goals this year was to get to 100 innings and thankfully I have been able to pass that already,” said Rodriguez-Cruz. “I feel really good right now; even though it’s been a long season, I still have a lot left and the arm has been feeling good, so I am just going to keep going and keep working hard.”

Double-A is viewed by evaluators as “the separator” in terms of identifying whether a player is equipped with the traits and skills that are going to translate on the grandest stage. New York Baseball legend Darryl Strawberry said recently during an appearance in Somerset that Double-A is the most challenging level for players – while an adjustment period is almost always necessary for a player to figure out the upper levels, Rodriguez-Cruz has only gotten better with advanced hitters stepping into the batter’s box.

In five starts since being promoted to Somerset on 7/11, Rodriguez-Cruz has pitched to a 1.41 ERA against the Eastern League after posting a 2.26 mark in 15 appearances for High-A Hudson Valley. Just last week, Rodriguez-Cruz outdueled baseball’s No.44 prospect Jonah Tong on two separate occasions and held Binghamton scoreless over 13 innings after the Mets affiliate had posted a +139-run differential. The emerging Patriots ace enters his start on Saturday in Portland having authored three consecutive shutout appearances spanning 19 innings of work dating back to 7/29.

“For me, I feel like it has been a little bit of the same,” admitted Rodriguez-Cruz on his start at Double-A. “There’s some adjustments you’ve got to make; it’s a new league with different kinds of players so I just try to get every single bit of information that I can and just bring it out every single day.”

Rodriguez-Cruz is listed at 6’3”, 160 lbs. and has been for much of his time in pro-ball, and he has spent much of the last year bulking up in hopes of adding meaningful velocity to his long frame. He believes he is now closer to weighing around 180 lbs. and with a refined workout regimen and nutrition plan, the radar gun routinely sits at 96-98 MPH and occasionally touches 99 after sitting in the low 90’s and maxing out at 95 MPH in his early days with Boston.

It's not just added body mass and velocity for Rodriguez-Cruz though, the Yankees No.6 prospect says that landing with New York has given him renewed confidence in his arsenal, and it has translated into the breakout campaign. He is throwing his sweeper and sinker more than he ever has to go along with a gyro-slider, curveball, and fastball.

“Ever since I got here, they [the Yankees] have put more emphasis on trusting all of my stuff and using all of my pitches,” explained Rodriguez-Cruz. “Getting into counts and trying to use all of them to my advantage where it plays best, so I feel like it’s just more confidence. Ever since I got here, they just let me pitch and let me execute and I have taken advantage of that.”

When an organization opts to make a trade, those decisions are made without taking emotion into account – nothing but a clear business goal in mind. On the other hand, the players involved in those respective deals are affected on a deeply personal level. In the case of Rodriguez-Cruz, he finds some sense of motivation in performing well and doing it for a division rival of his former organization.

“You always have that competitive nature and you always want to bring the best out of you against every opponent,” explained Rodriguez-Cruz. “Me playing against Boston; I played them earlier this year, and yeah, there are a couple of my friends there, but I feel like it brought the fuel out in me.”

In that start on 6/13 start for Hudson Valley against High-A Greenville, a club in which Rodriguez-Cruz made seven starts for last season, the righty hurled five shutout innings while striking out eight. He gets another chance to prove himself against his former parent club on Saturday when he makes his first career start against the Sea Dogs in front of the Maine Monster at Hadlock Field.

Matt Kardos | SomersetPatriots.com Senior Writer

Matt Kardos has covered the Yankees minor league system for over a decade and will spend his 13th season on the beat covering the Patriots for SomersetPatriots.com. Throughout his career, Matt has contributed to MLB.com, YES Network and Pinstriped Prospects. When he’s not at the ballpark, Matt enjoys traveling with his wife Kimberly, watching Jets football and collecting sports cards.