The Braves have activated a new rookie from the taxi squad to potentially make his major league debut.
With the next two planned starting pitchers emergency starter Huascar Ynoa and a hopefully healthy Cole Hamels still stretching out, the Braves wanted to add another arm to the bullpen capable of carrying the burden of multiple innings.
The Player
Jasseel De La Cruz, RHP
Age: 23
OFR Prospect Rank: 12
2019 Level: AA Mississippi
The Results (2019)
3.25 ERA/3.55 FIP (A/A+/AA)
25 G, 24 GS
133.0 IP
3.32 BB/9
8.19 K/9
The History
De La Cruz was a relatively low-key international amateur signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2015, and he made it stateside in 2016, throwing in 6 games for the Gulf Coast Braves. De La Cruz spent his first three pro seasons in the rookie leagues, trying to get a handle on his control, but he started popping up on some prospect lists after a strong start in Rome in 2018, where he pitched to a 2.04 ERA over his first four starts before suffering an injury that kept him out until late June. When he returned, he wasn’t exhibiting the same life on his mid-90s fastball and slider, and he returned to Rome to start 2019.
De La Cruz was a revelation in 2019. No prospect in the Braves system did more to improve his standing than De La Cruz, first dominating the SAL for four starts (18 innings, 22 strikeouts, 2.50 ERA) before getting a quick promotion to high-A Florida. After three solid starts, De La Cruz threw the first complete-game no-hitter in Florida Fire Frogs history, forcing another promotion, this time to AA Mississippi in late May. De La Cruz remained in Mississippi the rest of the season. After a somewhat rough start, De La Cruz settled in and over his final five starts only allowed a .169/.273/.247 batting line against him. After the season, De La Cruz was added to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
De La Cruz continued to look impressive in spring training and in summer camp.
The Report
Listed at 6’1″ and 195 pounds, De La Cruz has a solid base and an uncomplicated 3-quarters delivery with a quick leg pump, long arm action, and strong extension. De La Cruz always pitches from the stretch, using a slightly longer abbreviated wind-up when there are no runners. De La Cruz has a five-pitch mix of 2-seam and 4-seam fastball, slider, change-up, and curveball. The curveball is a rudimentary offering that De La Cruz only started throwing last season and unless it has improved leaps and bounds over the offseason and during time at the Alternate Training Site it probably won’t be seeing major league action. It’s the other four pitches that make De La Cruz a prospect.
The 4-seamer works both sides of the plate and has been clocked as fast as 100 mph, but typically sits mid-90s. However, De La Cruz mostly uses this as a set-up for his 2-seamer, which works in the mid-90s with natural sink. Hitters typically either swing over top of this pitch or pound it into the turf, and it’s the primary reason why De La Cruz has run +50% groundball rates in the minor leagues. He does a nice job of tunneling both fastballs.
The slider is his primary swing-and-miss pitch, coming in at a similar plane as the 2-seamer, though he noticeably slows his arm speed and comes more over-the-top on the pitch to help get vertical action.
Finally, there is De La Cruz’s change-up. When he has this pitch working it flashes as a plus offering, and the consistency with this pitch could be the difference between De La Cruz being a back-end starter or a reliever in the big leagues. When the pitch is on is looks like the 2-seamer coming out of the hand, but runs 8-10 mph slower and with natural arm-side run.
What’s Next
It seems likely that De La Cruz’s first tenure with Atlanta will be a brief one. With Cole Hamels expected to be activated from the injured list on Wednesday and Max Fried on Friday, De La Cruz is likely in the majors only to provide emergency long relief at some point in the next two games before being optioned back to the Alternate Training Site in favor of one of those two starters. That said, the chances of him getting into a game seem good with Huascar Ynoa so far only going as far as seven outs in any of his three emergency starts this season and Hamels still needing to be stretched out. After that, it will be up to De La Cruz’s performance to see if he gets another shot in 2020.
Long term, De La Cruz could be a back-half of the rotation option as soon as 2021, or another young, high-octane reliever.
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