A's Sign Post-Hype Braves Prospect to Minor League Deal
The Oakland A's keep bringing intriguing guys in on minor league deals, and Jasseel De La Cruz is the latest addition to the farm.
Ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Atlanta Braves' #10 prospect in 2020, De La Cruz has had a couple of rough seasons since the canceled minor league season. At 22 years old in 2019, he had reached Double-A as a starter, totaling 87 innings and holding a 3.83 ERA to go along with a K/9 of 7.6 and a BB/9 of 3.8.
He was pushed to Triple-A in 2021 when baseball resumed, and he got into 20 games, making 15 starts, but his ERA ballooned to 7.03 and he held a 1.704 WHIP. He was getting hit around, allowing 10.1 hits per nine innings, and his walk rate went up to 5.3 per nine.
He elected free agency after that season and ended up re-signing with the Braves in March of this year, right after the lockout ended.
Jasseel (pronounced Jah-Seal) began this past season in Triple-A again, working as a starter, but in four starts that lasted all of 8 1/3 combined innings and saw him give up 15 hits and nine earned runs, he was moved to the bullpen for three May outings and enjoyed some success in small bursts, but then he landed on the IL for a month and spent the rest of the season in Rookie Ball and Double-A and had ERAs above six at both stops, albeit it in 14 combined innings.
He is currently playing in the Dominican Winter League with Toros del Este, along with a slew of other A's players. He has an ERA over seven in 7 2/3 innings pitched.
De La Cruz is still just 25 years old, and in shorter stints he has touched 98-99 with his fastball, giving him a plus heater and a plus slider to go along with an average changeup.
FanGraphs had him listed as Atlanta's #27 prospect heading into 2022, and said he projects as an up/down reliever. From an A's perspective, bringing in an arm that had people excited not that long ago and giving him some new ways to look at things could unlock something new in him. His stuff has been developing, but his command hasn't been growing at the same rate, so he'll likely stick in the bullpen.
The reason this is an interesting addition is partly because of the A's new bullpen coach, Mike McCarthy, who has a track record of helping guys along in their careers. Tyler Duffey of the Twins is one guy that he said he worked with, and Duffey went from a reliever that tossed 25 innings for the Twins and held a 7.20 ERA in 2018 to a much more reliable bullpen option in 2019, tossing 57 2/3 innings and having a 2.50 ERA.
His strikeout rate went from 6.84 per nine to 12.80 per nine, too.
The A's are just collecting guys this off-season that may just need a chance, or a change of scenery, but they have the talent to make some kind of an impact at the big league level.
Jasseel De La Cruz was assigned to Double-A with the Midland RockHounds. The A's now have three of Atlanta's top ten prospects from Pipeline's 2020 ranking, with Cristian Pache at the top and Shea Langeliers at number four, in addition to DLC at ten. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year, Michael Harris II, was ranked 12th.