What the Braves saw in new outfielder Bryan De La Cruz
The Atlanta Braves continued using the advantage of their 40-man roster to add organizational depth and competition for spring training
(As always, the Braves announced they signed a player just minutes after I published this morning’s newsletter. Enjoy the rare two newsletter day.)
The Braves announced the signing of yet another non-guaranteed deal on Sunday morning, adding former Marlins and Pirates outfielder Bryan De La Cruz to the 40-man roster.
A non-guaranteed deal is either a minor league or split contract that comes with a 40-man roster spot. If the player is cut during spring training, they’re owed either 30 or 45 days of separation pay based on the date they’re cut1, while their salary for the coming season becomes fully guaranteed if they make the roster on Opening Day. As Atlanta’s one of the few teams that still has available 40-man spots at this point of the offseason, they’ve used this a few times already to get a player who had other offers for minor league deals (like Carlos D. Rodriguez).
BDLC isn’t a sexy signing - traded at the deadline after three seasons in Miami, the OF/DH hit just .233 with 170 strikeouts and -1.5 WAR and was non-tendered by the Pirates after being tagged with a $4M arbitration projection.
But he could be an effective signing if the Braves can get him back to his prior form.
What happened to Bryan De La Cruz?
In BDLC’s first three seasons, his combined line was .263/.311/.420, striking out slightly above league average and walking somewhere between 5.4% and 8.2%. He actually led the 2023 Marlins2 in plate appearances (626), hits (149) and runs batted in (78).
Even in 2023, it wasn’t all bad - he dropped off significantly in July, staying in a tailspin for the rest of the season.
From July on, his -1.1 WAR was the 2nd-worst mark in baseball, ahead of only prospect Miguel Vargas of the Chicago White Sox (captured in an iconic photo after the White Sox lost their 21st consecutive game):
So, what changed?
Put simply, his two-strike approach absolutely cratered.
A refusal to take a walk
Earlier in his career, BDLC was surprisingly productive in two-strike counts.
That all went away in 2024, with his above-average career performance (as measured by OPS+, in the far right column) deteriorating to 43% below league average3 for two-strike counts. Across 44 games and 168 plate appearances with the Pirates to end the season, BDLC walked a grand total of four times.
Not great, right?
Combine that with a sixty-point drop in performance against breaking pitches for the first time in his career and it’s a recipe for a slump to get worse when you’re pressing and trying to force production to get out of it.
Is this something Tim Hyers can fix?
It’s worth finding out for the cost, which is likely to be minimal.
While BDLC doesn’t offer much defensively other than a strong arm, it’s a profile that you can live with on a limited basis in left field. I’d expect him to be the first player to be moved to designated hitter if Marcell Ozuna is unavailable for some reason.4
He’s batted .246 against righties and .270 against lefties in his career, albeit with more power against righties. It’s a profile that should platoon well with Jarred Kelenic, if he sticks on the roster after Ronald Acuña Jr. returns.
Again, it’s a low-cost signing that has the potential to be high-reward if Tim Hyers and Co. can tweak his approach and get him back to producing against breaking pitches. He has two minor-league options and two years of team control remaining.
Before or after the 16th day of spring training.
A postseason club almost exclusively on a surprising and unsustainable 33-14 overperformance in one-run games.
With two strikes, the league’s slash was .168/.244/.264 in 2024.
With his two years of team control after this season, both via arbitration, he might be the heir apparent at designated hitter if his bat breaks out in 2025.