Nelson Cruz

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 230 lb

BornJuly 1, 1980 · Monte Cristi, Monte Cristi, D.R.

MLB debutSeptember 17, 2005

Final gameJuly 3, 2023

Seasons19 (2005–2023)

Milwaukee Brewers 2005; Texas Rangers 2006–2013; Baltimore Orioles 2014; Seattle Mariners 2015–2018; Minnesota Twins 2019–2021; Tampa Bay Rays 2021; Washington Nationals 2022; San Diego Padres 2023

Percentile snapshot

2022 season — qualified batters

124

1.6

504

448

1.6

2.3

105

0.8

11.7

RBI

39.8

42.2

119

36.7

79.7

.234

15.6

OBP

.313

28.9

SLG

.337

6.3

OPS

.651

7.8

wRC+

86.6

7.8

OPS+

85.1

6.3

wOBA

.294

9.4

sWAR

-0.5

0.8

of 129 qualified 2022 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

128.3

89.2

OPS+

129.6

90.2

sWAR

40.7

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
2005	8	7	5	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	.200	.429	.400	.829	135.9	119.5	.392	0.0
2006	41	138	130	15	29	3	0	6	22	7	32	1	0	.223	.261	.385	.645	59.3	63.1	.281	-0.4
2007	96	332	307	35	72	15	2	9	34	21	87	2	4	.235	.287	.384	.671	71.4	73.4	.298	-0.5
2008	31	133	115	19	38	9	1	7	26	17	28	3	1	.330	.421	.609	1.030	168.6	166.9	.443	1.4
2009	128	515	462	75	120	21	1	33	76	49	118	20	4	.260	.332	.524	.856	114.3	116.7	.363	2.0
2010	108	445	399	60	127	31	3	22	78	38	81	17	4	.318	.374	.576	.950	148.0	147.3	.407	3.5
2011	124	513	475	64	125	28	1	29	87	33	116	9	5	.263	.312	.509	.821	112.7	112.9	.353	1.8
2012	159	642	585	86	152	45	0	24	90	48	140	8	4	.260	.319	.460	.779	104.8	104.7	.337	1.8
2013	109	456	413	49	110	18	0	27	76	35	109	5	1	.266	.327	.506	.833	124.1	123.7	.358	2.3
2014	159	678	613	87	166	32	2	40	108	55	140	4	5	.271	.333	.525	.859	136.7	137.4	.370	3.9
2015	152	655	590	90	178	22	1	44	93	59	164	3	2	.302	.369	.566	.936	158.6	159.0	.395	5.7
2016	155	667	589	96	169	27	1	43	105	62	159	2	0	.287	.360	.555	.915	146.6	147.3	.383	4.6
2017	155	645	556	91	160	28	0	39	119	70	140	1	1	.288	.375	.549	.924	146.4	148.3	.387	4.2
2018	144	591	519	70	133	18	1	37	97	55	122	1	0	.256	.342	.509	.850	132.7	133.8	.360	2.7
2019	120	520	454	81	141	26	0	41	108	56	131	0	1	.311	.392	.639	1.031	165.2	167.7	.418	4.5
2020	53	214	185	33	56	6	0	16	33	25	58	0	0	.303	.397	.595	.992	164.8	169.7	.413	1.8
2021	140	580	513	79	136	21	1	32	86	51	126	3	0	.265	.334	.497	.832	122.8	128.8	.346	2.1
2022	124	504	448	50	105	16	0	10	64	49	119	4	0	.234	.313	.337	.651	86.6	85.1	.294	-0.5
2023	49	152	143	9	35	5	1	5	23	6	46	1	0	.245	.283	.399	.681	84.1	88.2	.292	-0.3

Career totals

2,055

221st-most career G

8,387

218th-most career PA

7,501

219th-most career AB

1,090

277th-most career R

2,053

268th-most career H

372

264th-most career 2B

464

37th-most career HR

RBI

1,325

101st-most career RBI

738

334th-most career BB

1,916

14th-most career SO

.2737

OBP

.3431

SLG

.5129

86th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8560

168th-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
2014-09-07	BAL @ TB Gameday	5	2	4	0	1	2	7	1	12
2020-07-26	MIN @ CWS Gameday	5	4	4	2	0	2	7	0	12
2019-07-25	MIN @ CWS Gameday	5	3	3	0	0	3	5	0	12
2019-08-03	KC @ MIN Gameday	4	3	3	0	0	3	5	0	12
2011-08-26	LAA @ TEX Gameday	5	3	4	1	0	2	6	0	11

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

4× Silver Slugger1× ALCS MVP7× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.