Luis Cruz

From BR Bullpen

Luis Alfonso Cruz Bojorquez

Bats Right, Throws Right
Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.

Debut September 2, 2008

Born February 10, 1984 in Navojoa, Sonora Mexico

[edit] Biographical Information

Luis Cruz made his major league debut in 2008, his 8th professional season. He has played for the Mexican national team in a couple of events. His father Luis Cruz Sr. spent 19 years in the Mexican League, hitting over 200 home runs and batting .297.

Cruz signed with the Boston Red Sox when he was 16. He debuted professionally with the 2001 GCL Red Sox and hit .259/.285/.350. He led the Gulf Coast League by grounding into 8 double plays. Some sources mistakenly list him as a GCL All-Star. Cruz hit only .188/.221/.277 for the 2002 Augusta GreenJackets and batted .292/.329/.347 for the GCL Red Sox that year. He made 26 errors in 79 games between the two stops. He was traded to the San Diego Padres that winter for Cesar Crespo.

In 2003, the teenager produced at a .231/.284/.335 clip for the Fort Wayne Wizards and made 42 errors. Cruz was the Mexican third baseman in the 2003 Baseball World Cup and did a fine job, hitting .400/.464/.760 to beat out infield mate Jorge Cantú as the team's top offensive threat. He fielded perfectly and just missed the Cup's top 5 in average. Michel Enríquez beat him out for the All-Tournament team slot at third base.

Cruz hit .277/.310/.404 for the 2004 Lake Elsinore Storm. Just 20 years old, he was showing decent power in A ball (35 doubles) while being the second-most difficult batter to strike out in the California League (one K per 9.84 plate appearances). He made the League mid-season All-Star team. One negative was another 42 errors; he also stole just 3 bases in 10 tries and only coaxes 24 walks in 124 games. Baseball America named him San Diego's best defensive infield prospect entering 2005; they also rated him as having the best infield arm in the Cal League in 2004.

Cruz started 2005 very poorly, only batting .159/.215/.245 for the Mobile BayBears in 44 games and was farmed out to the Mexico City Red Devils. He hit .283/.315/.429 in 61 games in the Mexican League. He remained in his homeland for winter ball with the Mayos de Navojoa. He moved to the Mazatlan Deer for the 2006 Caribbean Series and was one of their top stars, hitting .375 in the Series and contributing two home runs and five RBI in one game against Puerto Rico. Luis was chosen for the Mexican entry in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, appearing in five games and going 0 for 1.

Cruz had a fine 2006 campaign for Mobile, hitting .261/.301/.415 and leading the team in runs (65), hits (130), doubles (35) and RBI (65) while clouting a career-high 12 home runs. He was named Mobile's Player of the Year. Cruz was third in the Southern League in doubles and extra-base hits (50). He was a mid-season SL All-Star. He also played for the World Team in the 2006 Futures Game as the backup 2B to Yung-Chi Chen, going 0 for 2. He capped his busy year with the Mayos, hitting .268.

Baseball America rated Cruz as San Diego's #20 prospect entering 2007 and he was on the 40-man roster at the start of the season. He hit only .168/.216/.342 in his first 45 AAA games, for the Portland Beavers and .252/.293/.345 for the San Antonio Missions and was removed from the 40-man roster by the end of June. He hit .248 in winter ball.

A free agent, Cruz signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2008 and was assigned to the Altoona Curve. He hit .264/.303/.381 in 105 games, leading Altoona in RBI (only 46) and errors (23) before being called up to the Indianapolis Indians when Brian Bixler was briefly called up to Pittsburgh. He hit .325/.347/.483 in 32 games for Indianapolis. That one good month earned him a ticket to the majors as a September call-up. In his big league debut, Luis batted second and started at shortstop. He had a broken-bat single to left off of Aaron Harang in his first MLB at-bat but was promptly caught stealing by Ryan Hanigan. He went 1 for 4 on the day.