De La Cruz will add to the Yankees’ depth in the outfield. The 28-year-old struggled mightily in his time with Atlanta as seen in a slash of .191/.240/.213, but he has had some success — in limited spurts — at the highest level. It’s hard to see him being a fantasy relevant player in 2025, however.

De La Cruz scuffled and then some in his 50 plate appearances before the demotion with a slash of .191/.240/.213. He’ll head to Triple-A with Alex Verdugo “ready” for a call-up to the Atlanta outfield. De La Cruz will probably be back at some point over the late spring.

De La Cruz and Marcell Ozuna were the only hitters expected to be on the Opening Day roster that made the trip on Thursday. After grounding out in his first at-bat, De La Cruz doubled off of Konnor Pilkington to open the fourth inning, ultimately coming around to score on a fly ball off the bat of Conner Capel. The 28-year-old outfielder looks like he’ll open the season on the short side of a platoon in right field until Ronald Acuña Jr. (knee) is ready to return.

It’s a non-guaranteed deal, so De La Cruz will still have to make the team. The addition of a righty probably doesn’t take the Braves out of the market for a lefty outfielder to help fill in for Ronald Acuña Jr. and maybe supplant Jarred Kelenic in time. De La Cruz’s stock plummeted after he hit just .200/.220/.294 as a trade-deadline acquisition in Pittsburgh. He’s a poor defender in the outfield corners with a career 90 OPS+, so he’s very much in danger of falling out of the league.