Players

Jasseel De La Cruz, a native of Hato Mayor del Rey, Dominican Republic, comes to Sioux City after achieving top-prospect status in the Atlanta Braves organization. In 2020, De La Cruz was ranked as the No. 12 prospect in the Braves system by MLB.com. He was later added to the club’s 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, though he did not appear in a Major League game.

De La Cruz originally signed as an international free agent in 2015 at the tail end of the international signing period. This marks his second stint with the X’s after previously being a candidate for the pitching staff in 2024. He was placed on the Visa Reserved List that season and was eventually released on May 26, 2024.

The upcoming season marks the right-hander’s return stateside since 2023. De La Cruz has most recently spent two winters in the Dominican Winter League. During the 2023–24 winter season, he worked 4.1 scoreless innings across three games for Leones del Escogido and returned to the club for the 2024–25 campaign. He logged 5.2 innings with five strikeouts while allowing five earned runs on five hits during winter ball.

De La Cruz also signed with Rieleros de Aguascalientes in Triple-A Mexico but was released at the start of the 2025 season. He later signed with Caciques de Distrito of the Venezuelan League for the 2025 season but did not appear in a game.

De La Cruz experienced an eventful stretch during the 2022 and 2023 seasons in affiliated baseball. He spent 2022 with the Braves organization before electing free agency at season’s end and signing with the Oakland Athletics on November 29, 2022. During the 2023 season, he made three stops within the organization. At Double-A Midland, he made 18 relief appearances, throwing 19.2 innings while striking out 19 batters and posting a 2–0 record. He allowed 30 earned runs, finishing with a 13.73 ERA. He added another seven innings of work, including two starts at rookie-level Arizona, recording 10 strikeouts and a 5.14 ERA. De La Cruz again elected free agency following the 2023 season.

In 2022, De La Cruz also saw action at Triple-A Gwinnett, going 0–2 with an 8.03 ERA in 12.1 innings. He made an additional stop at Double-A Mississippi, posting a 0–1 record with a 6.00 ERA, and added six innings of work in the Florida Complex League with a 6.00 ERA. Following the season, he was designated for assignment and became a free agent.

During the 2021 season, De La Cruz spent the entire year at Triple-A Gwinnett. He appeared in 20 games, making 15 starts and totaling 56.1 innings for the Stripers. He struck out 55 batters while going 1–3 with a 7.03 ERA. On May 8, 2021, De La Cruz was called up to the Major League roster but was optioned back two days later without making an appearance.

De La Cruz did not pitch during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, instead spending time on the Braves’ taxi squad.

In 2019, he made three stops within the Braves system. At Low-A Rome, he went 0–1 with a 2.50 ERA across 18 innings in four starts, striking out 22 with a 1.33 WHIP. At High-A Florida, he posted a 3–1 record with a 1.93 ERA over four starts spanning 28 innings, striking out 26 while recording a 0.679 WHIP. On May 18, 2019, De La Cruz threw the first no-hitter of his professional career for the Fire Frogs in the Florida State League. He finished the season at Double-A Mississippi, making 16 starts (plus one relief appearance) across 87 innings with 73 strikeouts, going 4–7 with a 3.83 ERA.

Following the 2019 season, De La Cruz was added to the Braves’ 40-man roster. On September 15, 2020, he was promoted to the Major League roster before being optioned back to the taxi squad the following day.

His 2018 season was spent entirely with Rome of the South Atlantic League, where he appeared in 15 games (13 starts) and logged 69 innings. The right-hander struck out 65 while allowing 37 earned runs, finishing with a 4.83 ERA.

De La Cruz made two stops in 2017. At rookie-level Danville in the Appalachian League, he made six starts and one relief appearance over 23.2 innings, posting a 5.32 ERA. He also pitched 19 innings with the Gulf Coast Braves, going 2–1 in four starts with 17 strikeouts.

In 2016, De La Cruz threw 26.1 innings over 15 games (12 relief appearances and three starts) in the Dominican Summer League, recording a 3.42 ERA with 20 strikeouts and a 2–0 record. He later added 15 scoreless innings at rookie-level Gulf Coast, earning two wins in six relief appearances while striking out 12 without allowing an earned run.

During his first professional season in 2015, the then-18-year-old appeared in seven relief games in the Dominican Summer League, striking out six batters in 6.1 innings with a 7.11 ERA. De La Cruz is a native of Hato Mayor del Rey, in the Dominican Republic.