By: Angelina Staumont, Sports Information Director
LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Although he did not hear his name called in the 2021 Major League Baseball Draft, RobertAnthony Cruz's childhood dream of becoming a professional baseball player finally came true, as the Washington Nationals signed Cruz as an undrafted free agent.
It's every baseball players dream to hear their name called in the MLB Draft. As days two and three of the 2021 MLB Draft came to an end, Biola Baseball's RobertAnthony Cruz had yet to hear his name called. While he could've lost faith, he continued to trust in God's plan.
While at home with his mother, Cynthia, Cruz received a phone call from a number he didn't recognize. "I initially thought it was spam because I am used to getting spam calls from numbers I don't know," said Cruz.
Fortunately for the Biola Boy, he picked up the phone and on the other end of the call was Mark Baca, the Assistant Director of Scouting for the Washington Nationals.
"We just took our 20th guy," said Baca, as the Nats closed out the 2021 MLB Draft. "But would you be interested in signing a free agent contract?"
Cruz did not hesitate as he told Baca he would absolutely love for the opportunity become a professional baseball player.
In three seasons at Biola, Cruz started in 94 of 95 games and slashed an impressive .326/.403/.580 for the Eagles. He recorded 118 hits, 49 going for extra bases, while reaching base 47 times via the walk.
Following the 2020 season that was cut short after just 14 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cruz had a phenomenal 2021 season. At the plate, he posted a team high .388 batting average with 11 homeruns. The Riverside, California native led the eagles in OPS (1.222), runs scored (29), hits (45), RBI (36) and walks (23).
While he saw most of his playing time at second base for the Eagles, Cruz made starts in the corner outfield positions as well as at first base for Head Coach Jeff Calhoon.
In his final season as an Eagle, Cruz was named to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division II West All-Region First Team, All-PacWest First Team, NCBWA First Team, CCA Honorable Mention All-America Team, D2CCA All-Region First Team, CoSIDA Academic All-District VII First Team, and is a finalist for the Biola Athletics EDDIE award for Male Student-Athelte of the Year.
While the impressive resume and accolades speak for themselves, perhaps the most special moment for Cruz was being able to share the life changing news he heard from Baca with his family.
"When I got the call, my mom and I were in tears," said Cruz.
Unfortunately, his father, Ron, was at work when he received the call so he and his mother made their way over to his father's work to share the good news.
"It was just my mom, dad and I who shared that moment at his work," said Cruz. "And afterwards, we celebrated at Del Taco, we went there a lot growing up."
What stared off as capturing a special moment that the Cruz family could forever cherish, has captured over 14.7 million views on Cruz's TikTok and has been reposted by major media outlets such as ESPN and SportsCenter.
"It has been a long journey for me, and I doubted myself many many times, I am just so thankful that I stuck with it and continued to work hard," said Cruz.
"God answered a lot of prayers this week that I have been praying for years."
