Former Dodgers infielder inspired by Fernando Valenzuela to join LA's broadcast team

It's been more than a decade since infielder Luis Cruz appeared in a Major League Baseball game, but now he's back with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a brand new role.

The Dodgers announced that Cruz will be taking his talents from the baseball diamond to the broadcast booth as an analyst for the team’s Spanish-language radio broadcasts beginning in 2025. In the role, Cruz will team up with veteran announcers Pepe Yñiguez and José Mota on flagship station KTNQ 1020 AM and the Dodger Latino Media Network.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity,” Cruz said (via team press release). “There’s a saying, ‘Once you’re a Dodger, you’re always a Dodger.’ Starting in 2012 when I played here, the fans embraced me and made me feel really comfortable. Now, to be a part of the Dodger organization again and be with Pepe and José, I look forward to giving my all to make our broadcasts the best they can be.”

Luis Cruz returns to Dodgers in broadcasting role more than a decade after playing for them

Cruz signed a minor-league contract with the Dodgers during the 2011-12 offseason, and the club called him up on July 2, 2012. He quickly became Los Angeles' everyday third baseman, betting .297 with 26 extra-base hits and 40 RBI over 78 games. Of his Dodgers teammates who appeared in at least that many games that season, only outfielder Matt Kemp had a higher batting average (.303).

The start of the 2013 season, however, did not go as planned for Cruz; after he slashed .127/.175/.169 across 45 games, the Dodgers designated him for assignment exactly one year to the day after they first called him up. Cruz was picked up by the New York Yankees but released just over a month later. He spent four seasons playing in Japan from 2014-17 and the following seven seasons in Mexico's winter league.

Cruz is a native of Navajoa, Mexico, where the late Dodgers pitching great and Spanish-Language broadcaster Fernando Valenzuela began his professional baseball career in the 1970s and played alongside Cruz's father. Cruz credited Valenzuela as being a "big part" of his run with the Dodgers in 2012; now, in a full-circle moment, he will join the Spanish-language broadcast booth where Valenzuela spent the last two decades of his life.

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