He is the son of former major league outfielder and Houston Astros first base coach José Cruz, and the nephew of former big leaguers Héctor and Tommy Cruz. Cruz grew up in Bellaire, Texas and attended Bellaire High School, where he played baseball.
Cruz attended Rice University from 1992 to 1995 and was a member of Team United States of America in 1994, and was also a three time All-American while at Rice, setting virtually all possible offensive records.
Over his nine-year playing career, Cruz played for nine different teams. Standing 6"0" tall and weighing 210 pounds, Cruz was a right-handed switch hitter. Cruz was a first round pick, 3rd overall, for the Seattle Mariners in the 1995 amateur draft and began his major league career on May 31, 1997.
His days in Seattle were short as he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Paul Spoljaric and Mike Timlin on July 31, 1997.
He holds the distinction of having the most home runs in the first season of a career while playing for two or more clubs. He stayed in Toronto until 2003 and twice hit at least 30 home runs with the Blue Jays.
One of those was in 2001, when he also stole 32 bases to become one of three players to record 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases during that season (Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero were the others). He was signed as a free agent by the San Francisco Giants on January 28, 2003.
He was later acquired as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2004.
In 2005, Cruz, Junior., played for three teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox and finally the Los Angeles Dodgers. Although injured most of the year, Cruz ended the season on a tear, hitting.301 with six homers as a Dodger. Cruz was picked to play for Puerto Rico in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.
In the tournament, Cruz hit.353 with a.476 on-base percentage in five games, helping Puerto Rico reach the second round.
The Dodgers designated Cruz for assignment on August 1, 2006, and eventually released him. Cruz later signed a contract with the San Diego Padres and played for them for a portion of the 2007 season.
Cruz was placed on unconditional release waivers by the Padres on August 1, 2007. On August 18, 2007, the New York Yankees signed him to a minor league deal.
On November 28, 2007, he signed a minor league deal with the Houston Astros.
At the end of the 2008 spring training, he was added to the 40-man roster. He was later designated for assignment. In spring training in 2008, he led the major leagues in Reserve Bank of India, with 20.
Cruz has worked as a Major League Baseball analyst for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (Baseball Tonight) and MLB.com.
Cruz said that he moved from Bellaire after being arrested by Bellaire police for a missing front license plate on a newly purchased car and spending one night in jail in 2002. Cruz accused the police of racial profiling.
Cruz currently works for the MLBPA.
