Bryan De La Cruz is standing in a long line of talented outfield prospects on the Houston Astros. But, he’s got enough going for him to possibly make a dent in the competition.
A shortstop early on in his development, De La Cruz’ recent performance in the abbreviated 2020 Spring Training might just make Houston brass sit up and take notice.
Will Bryan Supplant “Mr. Seeds”?
In a March 5 Astros radio broadcast in a spring matchup against the Boston Red Sox, broadcaster Steve Sparks likened De La Cruz to former Astro and current Toronto Blue Jays’ outfielder Teoscar “Mr. Seeds” Hernandez.
Both are products of the Dominican Republic, both are 6’2″, and both players have an intriguing power/speed combo.
Hernandez, once caught up in the Astros’ outfield logjam himself, managed to free himself through Houston’s desire to acquire a southpaw bullpen piece for the 2017 title run. On July 31, the Astros traded him (and outfielder Nori Aoki) to Toronto in exchange for Francisco Liriano.
Hernandez does have four years and 30 pounds on the youngster, but like Teoscar, it might take another trade deadline deal for De La Cruz to eventually free himself for a shot at the big leagues.
If that’s what it ends up taking, De La Cruz will be happy to learn that as soon as Hernandez landed in Toronto, he was promoted to the Jays after only a month at Triple-A.
While bubbling under, De La Cruz has yet to emerge into the Astros’ list of top 30 prospects.
Echoes of the Past?
“We always knew he had the potential to be an everyday player,” then-GM Jeff Luhnow said of Hernandez to The Athletic. “He wasn’t going to get that chance here any time soon, and we really felt like adding a left-handed pitcher with good stuff would help us immediately, and it was a worthwhile trade-off.”
Current Houston GM James Click may eventually find himself saying similar words about De La Cruz. But, with Houston’s current outfield of Michael Brantley, George Springer, and Josh Reddick all reaching free agency following the 2020 season, De La Cruz may end up being in the right place at the right time.
One amazing sidebar on Teoscar, though, remains: It took only one defensive replacement appearance with Houston in 2017 to earn Hernandez his own World Series championship ring. He picked up his prize from Astros owner Jim Crane in late June 2018 during a Blue Jays visit to Minute Maid Park for a series.
Bryan Starling De La Cruz
De La Cruz just turned 23 in December. He was born in Santo Domingo Este, on the eastern side of the Ozama River, which separates the Dominican capital on the south side of the island.
Armed with the largest international bonus pool in MLB that year, Houston inked De La Cruz on October 3, 2013, and gave him $170,000. Conveniently enough, De La Cruz was able to stay in his home country to begin his pro career, as Houston assigned him to their Dominican summer rookie league for 2014. He hit .262 with a .704 OPS in 59 games.
In 2015, De La Cruz made his stateside debut hitting .242 in 44 games with the team’s Florida-based (Gulf Coast League) GCL Astros. He played for rookie league Greeneville Astros and short season Class A Tri-City ValleyCats in 2016, hitting just .239 overall, but drawing 19 walks with 33 strikeouts and 3 homers in 44 games.
2017 saw De La Cruz covering Tri-City, full season Class A Quad Cities River Bandits, and his first foray to Double-A with Corpus Christi Hooks. In 60 games, his combined numbers included a .244/.290/.335 line, 10 doubles, and two each of triples and homers. He walked 14 times against 37 Ks and stole five bases in seven attempts.
Coming Into His Own
De La Cruz slashed a promising .289/.367/.375 in 2018 for Quad Cities and Advanced-A in 2018, hitting 22 doubles, with 51 walks and 97 strikeouts on the year. He stole 10 bases and was caught seven times.
De La Cruz spent the first half of 2019 hitting .279 for High A Fayetteville Woodpeckers, with a .799 OPS in 183 plate appearances. This prompted a promotion to Houston’s AA Corpus Christi in early June, shortly after spending time on the IL with a nasty hand slice incurred during a mid-May steal attempt.
In his 300 PAs for Corpus, De La Cruz raised expectations by hitting .283, with the same number of doubles (14) and homers (four) as he smacked at Fayetteville. He stole 12 bases on the year out of 18 attempts.
Bryan managed to make the most of his 15 Spring Training at-bats in 2020, hitting .267, but banging half of his four hits out of the yard, with one double, and checking out with a small-sample 1.046 OPS.
Future? As Mysterious As Baseball’s
While he lacks “traditional” outfielder power, Bryan De La Cruz has become flexible as a defender, although he’s spent most of his pro time in right field.
If he can manage to add some muscle mass, as Teoscar Hernandez was able to do, a power stroke might follow, without altering his swing path (except to work on contact rate some more). His speed and current gap power must make Astro brass wonder what 10 or 20 “good” pounds might do to his production.
But, with both his 2019 work and his brief spring showing before baseball went dark, De La Cruz has left an impression the Astros would do well to encourage and pursue.
Just as soon as an umpire —any umpire- screams “Play ball!”