See also: Best Brave By Uniform Number Index
The best Braves to wear #69 is to date the only Brave to ever be assigned #69… and he so far has not gotten into a game.
Currently the OFR #12 prospect, right-hander Jasseel De La Cruz was called up on September 15 in the crazy 2020 season to add depth to the bullpen at a time when the Braves were juggling their starting rotation, a practice that they were doing constantly.
In the COVID-19 pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season, right-hander Touki Toussaint had made four starts for the Braves in August 2020 at a time when Atlanta was desperate for any of their young pitchers to step up and claim a spot. Left-hander Max Fried was the only reliable starter after Mike Soroka suffered a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, ending his season. Free agent acquisition Cole Hamels had yet to make an appearance after suffering inflammation in his elbow during the “summer camp” preceding the start of the season in late July, and anticipated starters Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb had both been sent out after dramatic early flame-outs.
Toussaint at first looked up to the challenge after his first two starts, but his fight against his own mechanics came back, spoiling his final two starts. He too was sent out, and Atlanta was forced to cobble together a rotation out of Fried, journeymen swingman Josh Tomlin, Robbie Erlin and Tommy Milone, and rookie Kyle Wright, who was experiencing his own mechanical issues.
Toussaint was recalled on September 14 to give him one more shot at regaining his starting rotation. Eight outs and eight runs allowed later, and Toussaint was sent to the shower, and the next day sent to the team’s Alternate Training Site. Toussaint would not get a third chance in 2020.
De La Cruz Recalled
In Toussaint’s place came right-hander Jasseel De La Cruz. Among the many Braves young starting pitcher candidates, which in addition to Toussaint and Wright included Bryse Wilson, Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller, and Patrick Weigel, De La Cruz often got overlooked. One reason was likely that of the group (excluding Muller), De La Cruz was the one that had not yet logged innings at the AAA level, concluding the 2019 season at AA Mississippi. Another is his relative lack of pedigree — Toussaint, Wright, and Muller were all first-round draft picks, Davidson had recently won a Southern League ERA title, Wilson an International League ERA title, and Weigel had been considered a promotion candidate as far back as 2017 before a UCL tear slowed his advance.
But De La Cruz had made great strides in 2019, and was a favorite among some prospect watchers (this writer included) for his velocity, improving secondary pitches, and competitiveness on the mound. When it was announced that De La Cruz was going to The Show to replace Toussaint, even though it was likely just a temporary assignment, I quickly and excitedly put out a Get To Know a Call-Up feature on the right-hander.
But then it was revealed that without even throwing a pitch, Jasseel De La Cruz would make Braves history.
RHP Jasseel De La Cruz will wear number 69. First wearer in team history. #Braves pic.twitter.com/Sq6vU7olBr
— MLB Jersey Numbers (@NumbersMLB) September 15, 2020
Which, of course, was nice.
The Braves were visiting the Baltimore Orioles, which was a team that seemed perfect to break in a new pitcher, but De La Cruz would not get into the game on September 15. Neither would he appear in the game on September 16. Then on September 17, the Atlanta Braves announced that Cole Hamels would attempt to make a late-season comeback in an effort to get stretched out to potentially throw for the Braves in the post-season. De La Cruz was returned to the Alternate Training Site, and would not be recalled the rest of the season.
Of course, it’s likely that this is just the opening page of the book of De La Cruz’s career. What remains to be answered of course is what number he will wear when he returns to the majors. And, I guess, how he does.
Who Was The Best #69 Ever?
We all have our thoughts and theories of course, but Baseball-Reference only lists 13 players who have worn 69 in their career, including 2020 Brave Tommy Milone, who wore the number in Baltimore before being traded to Atlanta (in retrospect, forcing him to change numbers is no doubt why Milone struggled in short time with the team).
Of those 13, by far the best is another former Brave, right-hander Bronson Arroyo, who wore 69 in his first three big-league seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. If you don’t remember Arroyo pitching for Atlanta, it’s because he didn’t. In 2016 he was on the injured list for the Arizona Diamondbacks, recovering from Tommy John surgery, when he was traded to the Braves along with the aforementioned Touki Toussaint, his salary acting as essentially the acquisition fee for Atlanta to get Toussaint. Arroyo would be included in the ill-advised three-team trade later that same year that sent prospect Jose Peraza and left-hander Alex Wood to the Dodgers for Hector Olivera. Arroyo would not make an appearance for the Dodgers either.
Arroyo is mostly known for his strong work for the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 postseason and his 9 seasons in the Cincinnati Reds rotation where he threw 1690 innings with a 4.05 ERA. He’s also known for his album Covering The Bases, released in 2007 which includes a cover of the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong” with a spoken-word segment by author Stephen King. Arroyo has six different nicknames in his toolkit, including Smokey, Tacks, Dirty, BroYo, Free Love, and of course, Saturn Nuts.
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