Seattle Mariners Bid Farewell To Nelson Cruz, “The Boomstick”

Two words that come to mind when one hears the name Nelson Cruz: Exit Velocity. Cruz has been a fan favorite over the last four seasons, and Mariners fans will miss the demeanor and magic he brought to the dish.

Every time Nelson came to the plate, fans knew they could witness something spectacular. Whether it is a 493-foot blast or a 110 miles per hour double smoked down the left field line, the Herculanean power he had in the batter’s box will be a void that the Mariners will need to fill. Currently, there isn’t a player in the lineup that can do so.

Since Statcast’s inception in 2015 here is the accumulated exit velocity (EV) statistics. It is incredible what he was able to do when he connected with the baseball:

A few notes about these numbers: In 2017 and 2018, he was #2 in MLB for average EV. In 2016, Cruz hit his 493-foot blast at Target Field ranking second in the Majors that season. Giancarlo Stanton’s 504-foot, 120.1 MPH moonshot at Coors Field took the top place.

Cruz stated that he wanted to stay in Seattle and that he loves the area as he was an active member in the community, he even raised the 12th Man Flag before a Seahawks Monday Night Football game in 2015. In September 2016, Nelson unveiled his Boomstick23 Foundation with the intention of empowering at-risk youth to develop leadership skills through sports. At the commissioning event, he partnered with a local Seattle international high school to present the faculty with a $10,000 check and baseball equipment for the team.

He has also worked with the Seattle Fire Department to collect extra firefighting equipment to send it to the Dominican Republic, his native country. In 2012, he even paid for a donated a fire truck. He attended countless PLAYBALL events to give kids the opportunity to play baseball and softball. With the encouragement from teammate Felix Hernandez, he became a United States Citizen in Downtown Seattle in 2018.

These community efforts earned Nelson to be the Seattle Mariners’ 2018 Roberto Clemente Award nominee.

I’m an engineer during my day job, so I like to look at numbers because they’re honest and not emotional. Here are some more numbers that I have put together to put into perspective how valuable he was to the Mariners’ organization.

As a Mariner Nelson collected his 1000th and 1500th hit, achieved his 600th-1000th RBI milestones, hit his 200th career HR in 2015, 300th in 2017, and 350thin 2018, and appeared in 3 All-Star games.

The year he played in Baltimore (2014) he was reaching the apex of his offensive performance and reached it during the 2015 and 2016 seasons.  Albeit, he did drive in a career and AL-high 119 runs in 2017. By looking at the charts that I constructed below, you can see that his productivity begins to decline after the 2016 season. There are a few essential items that remain constant: RBIs and Home Runs.

His inevitable departure ultimately to Minnesota leaves a colossal vacancy in the lineup.

The Mariners recently acquired Edwin Encarnacion. Like Nelly, he joined the Majors in 2005. So I decided to plug his numbers in to see the trends. Here is what I found:

It’s troubling in the fact it’s similar to Cruz—declining, but at an increased rate. I’ll give Edwin some credit: He’s an RBI machine AND in fewer games than Cruz. RBIs, however, are a team effort. If he somehow finds himself in a Mariners’ uniform in Spring of 2019, he could fill the role that Nelly vacated, but I would not expect quality or consistent productivity. With the year Seattle is projected to have, I would not anticipate any high powered offensive DH to be signed.

Again, like Cruz, 2016 seems to have been the peak performing year for Encarnacion.

Numbers are useful because they’re truthful. However, enough is enough. Emotions are what makes us a human.

Like most Mariners fans, I loved watching Nelson Cruz. When the game was close, and he was up to bat, you would get that gut feeling that something remarkable was about to happen. The sheer power behind his swing coupled with the ball hitting the sweet spot of his bat was a melodic sound that will be missed in Seattle. For that, we thank you, Nelson, for making Seattle a stop on your spectacular career. We wish you the best.