“The plan a month ago was for Jacob Cruz to pitch out of the pen, but the kid has proved himself since joining the rotation. I mean, in his 8 starts, he has as 3.56 ERA. He was even better in the bullpen because his ERA there was like 1.5 or something crazy. We feel our bullpen is strong enough where we don’t have to have that starter to fill in there.” Said Omaha manager Julian Negrete.
Cruz is getting his first taste of the majors, as he was a rule 5 draft pick from Rockville this past season. As mentioned, he has been very good for Omaha with a 2.74 ERA spread out over 98.2 innings. He has a WHIP of a sparking 0.99.obviously this is Julian's decision, but I agree that Jacob has done about as well as any rule 5 could have been expected to do for a team in the Brewster League. Our staff has done a great job of putting people in the right seat of the bus, and I have absolute confidence in our bullpen and in our personnel staff to get the job done.
Now it appears the rule 5 “kid” has earned a spot in the postseason rotation.