Joel De La Cruz

Signed by the Milwaukee Brewers as a non-drafted free agent on March 19, 2006... Signed by Fernando Arango...Signed by the Washington Nationals to a minor league contract on February 5, 2008...Signed by the New York Yankees to a minor league contract on April 19, 2010...Signed by the Atlanta Braves to a minor league contract on November 20, 2015...Signed by the Atlanta Braves to a minor league contract on October 23, 2016.

2016

In his first season in the Braves organization, made his MLB debut after beginning the year with Triple-A Gwinnett…Split his time with the Braves between the starting rotation and the bullpen, making 22 appearances, nine starts...Lost his MLB debut, 3-0 to CLE on 6/29 after the club selected his contract from Triple-A Gwinnett earlier that day... Allowed three runs, earned, and seven hits...Became the fourth Braves pitcher to make his MLB debut with an interleague start and the first since Randall Delgado on 6/17/11 vs. TEX...Charlie Morton (6/14/08 at LAA) and Kyle Davies (5/21/05 at BOS) also did it...With the club twice prior to making his MLB debut…Atlanta first selected his contract on 4/11 before he was optioned to Gwinnett the next day…Outrighted off the 40-man roster on 4/22 and selected again on 5/20…Optioned to Gwinnett on 5/22 and outrighted again on 5/29...Dropped all seven of his decisions to become the first Braves' pitcher to lose his first seven career decisions since Dave Campbell started 0-7 in 1977 and 1978…Since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966, only one other pitcher began his career 0-7…Frank LaCorte started 0-9 in 1975 and 1976...Received 10 total runs of support as a starter for a rate of 1.96 runs per nine innings…Among qualifying pitchers, James Shields had the lowest rate of 3.22 per nine innings…Received no runs of support in five of his starts ...Lost his first two starts before moving to the bullpen for seven appearances, 7/8-7/28…Returned to the rotation for seven starts, 7/31-9/2, before making his final six appearances out of the bullpen, 9/6-9/30...Became one of 22 Braves rookies to play, tying the Atlanta franchise record for most in a single season with the 2015 amount...Went 4.1 shutout innings while not striking out a batter, 7/31 vs. PHI…Pitched in relief on 7/28 vs. PHI and became just the fourth Braves pitcher since 2000 to go at least 4.1 shutout innings in a start on two days rest or less...Went 0-6 with a 5.09 ERA (26 ER/46.0 IP) as a starter and 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA (8 ER/16.2 IP) as a reliever... Collected a hit in his first MLB at-bat.