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Nelson Cruz played 19 major-league seasons (2005-2023) as a OF (970), 1B (2). Career totals and every year-by-year line below come from the SABR/Lahman database (CC BY-SA), covering 1871-2025.
Showing 19 season lines
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 25 | MIL | 8 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .200 | .829 | 126 |
| 2006 | 26 | TEX | 41 | 130 | 15 | 29 | 6 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 32 | .223 | .645 | 65 |
| 2007 | 27 | TEX | 96 | 307 | 35 | 72 | 9 | 34 | 2 | 21 | 87 | .235 | .671 | 76 |
| 2008 | 28 | TEX | 31 | 115 | 19 | 38 | 7 | 26 | 3 | 17 | 28 | .330 | 1.030 | 170 |
| 2009 | 29 | TEX | 128 | 462 | 75 | 120 | 33 | 76 | 20 | 49 | 118 | .260 | .856 | 121 |
| 2010 | 30 | TEX | 108 | 399 | 60 | 127 | 22 | 78 | 17 | 38 | 81 | .318 | .950 | 156 |
| 2011 | 31 | TEX | 124 | 475 | 64 | 125 | 29 | 87 | 9 | 33 | 116 | .263 | .821 | 122 |
| 2012 | 32 | TEX | 159 | 585 | 86 | 152 | 24 | 90 | 8 | 48 | 140 | .260 | .779 | 112 |
| 2013 | 33 | TEX | 109 | 413 | 49 | 110 | 27 | 76 | 5 | 35 | 109 | .266 | .833 | 127 |
| 2014 | 34 | BAL | 159 | 613 | 87 | 166 | 40 | 108 | 4 | 55 | 140 | .271 | .859 | 140 |
| 2015 | 35 | SEA | 152 | 590 | 90 | 178 | 44 | 93 | 3 | 59 | 164 | .302 | .936 | 154 |
| 2016 | 36 | SEA | 155 | 589 | 96 | 169 | 43 | 105 | 2 | 62 | 159 | .287 | .915 | 143 |
| 2017 | 37 | SEA | 155 | 556 | 91 | 160 | 39 | 119 | 1 | 70 | 140 | .288 | .924 | 144 |
| 2018 | 38 | SEA | 144 | 519 | 70 | 133 | 37 | 97 | 1 | 55 | 122 | .256 | .850 | 130 |
| 2019 | 39 | MIN | 120 | 454 | 81 | 141 | 41 | 108 | 0 | 56 | 131 | .311 | 1.031 | 167 |
| 2020 | 40 | MIN | 53 | 185 | 33 | 56 | 16 | 33 | 0 | 25 | 58 | .303 | .992 | 168 |
| 2021 | 41 | MIN|TBA | 140 | 513 | 79 | 136 | 32 | 86 | 3 | 51 | 126 | .265 | .832 | 126 |
| 2022 | 42 | WAS | 124 | 448 | 50 | 105 | 10 | 64 | 4 | 49 | 119 | .234 | .651 | 85 |
| 2023 | 43 | SDN | 49 | 143 | 9 | 35 | 5 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 46 | .245 | .681 | 83 |
| Year | Pos | G | GS | PO | A | E | DP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | OF | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | OF | 39 | 35 | 69 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 2007 | OF | 94 | 79 | 167 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 2008 | OF | 31 | 31 | 72 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2009 | OF | 122 | 119 | 301 | 11 | 4 | 2 |
| 2010 | OF | 101 | 101 | 250 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 2011 | OF | 115 | 114 | 244 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| 2012 | OF | 151 | 148 | 288 | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| 2013 | OF | 102 | 102 | 195 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2014 | OF | 70 | 70 | 132 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | OF | 80 | 80 | 151 | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| 2016 | OF | 48 | 48 | 76 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | OF | 5 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | OF | 4 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 1B | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Team codes are the source codes (e.g. NYN for the New York Mets, BS1 for the 1875 Boston club). OPS+ is league-season normalized, not park-adjusted; unrecorded source values (such as RBI in the earliest recorded seasons) are absent, never zero-filled.
Nelson Cruz won: ALCS MVP 2011 (AL), Silver Slugger 2015 (AL), Silver Slugger 2017 (AL), TSN All-Star 2017 (AL), Silver Slugger 2019 (AL), TSN All-Star 2019 (AL), Silver Slugger 2020 (AL), TSN All-Star 2020 (AL).
MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting history (6 ballot finishes, 0 wins). Full year pages: 2020, 2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.
| Year | Award | Lg | Rank | Points | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 7 | 102 / 420 | 0 |
| 2015 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 6 | 94 / 420 | 0 |
| 2016 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 15 | 6 / 420 | 0 |
| 2017 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 10 | 44 / 420 | 0 |
| 2019 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 9 | 62 / 420 | 0 |
| 2020 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 6 | 128 / 420 | 0 |
Nelson Cruz ranks on 2 all-time single-season position leaderboards (1871-2025, league-season-normalized OPS+ / ERA+).
| Rank | Board | Year | Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| #14 | designated hitters | 2020 | 168 OPS+ |
| #16 | designated hitters | 2019 | 167 OPS+ |
Every career total and season line is computed from the SABR / Sean Lahman baseball database (2025 edition, CC BY-SA 3.0), the same source behind our historical position leaderboards. Rate stats use league-season normalization only (OPS+ and ERA+ as marked, never park-adjusted); unrecorded early-era values stay absent rather than being invented. Career totals sum only what the source records.
Award winners and MVP / Cy Young / Rookie of the Year voting history come from the same database; the year pages live under MLB award voting history. Official transactions (2011 to the current season) come from the MLB StatsAPI feed on our transactions archive.