Phillies call up Bryan De La Cruz from Triple-A

De La Cruz had three plate appearances before Brandon Marsh hit for him in the ninth. The plan is for De La Cruz to start against lefties, but if he can get hot quickly, he might stake a claim in right field with Gabriel Rincones Jr. struggling to start his major league career. The Phillies, though, are almost certainly going to acquire an outfield before the deadline.

De La Cruz exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Phillies, so the club did what they had to do in order to bring him back and keep him in the organization as quality outfield depth. The 29-year-old has hit .254/.343/.426 with 12 homers and 51 RBI in 328 plate appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season.

The Phillies have one of the deepest and most talented bullpens in all of baseball, so it was always going to be tough for Shugart to crack the Opening Day roster. De La Cruz’s chances of earning a spot took a big hit when the Phillies announced that Justin Crawford had made the team. Both players will start out the year as extra depth at the Triple-A level.

Crawford is the favorite to start in center field for the Phillies on Opening Day. He’ll need a strong performance in Grapefruit League action to lock up the spot but he doesn’t have a ton of competition. The 22-year-old former first-round pick batted .334/.411/.452 with seven homers and 46 steals in 112 games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this past season. He’ll make a fantasy impact in the stolen base department, but counting on anything beyond that in his first taste of the majors might be too optimistic, especially since he’s likely to bat at the bottom of the order. Here is the full lineup: Crawford (CF), Adolis García (RF), Edmundo Sosa (SS), Otto Kemp (LF), Bryan De La Cruz (DH), Rafael Marchán (C), Dylan Moore (2B), Christian Cairo (3B) and Keaton Anthony (1B).

The 28-year-old slugger saw just 50 plate appearances at the big league level in 2025, slashing .191/.240/.213 with zero RBI and an 18/3 K/BB ratio for the Braves. He delivered a much more palatable .263/.331/.431 slash line with 15 homers and eight steals in 102 games this season at the Triple-A level. He’ll add solid outfield depth for the Phillies.

De La Cruz wound up spending the rest of the season toiling away at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after being claimed off waivers from Atlanta in early May. The 28-year-old outfielder hit .191/.240/.213 during a 16-game stint with Atlanta, but hit an encouraging .263/.331/.431 with 15 homers and eight steals in 102 games this season at the Triple-A level.

The 28-year-old outfielder now has to choose whether or not to accept that outright assignment or explore the open market. De La Cruz struggled in his limited big league action with the Braves this season, slashing .191/.240/.213 with zero homers, zero RBI and an 18/3 K/BB ratio over 50 plate appearances.

Bryan De La Cruz has joined the Yankees and will be activated if Grisham goes on the IL, but it looks like the club will hold off for now. The Yankees have Cody Bellinger in center and Jasson Domínguez in left field today.

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.