The emergence of Bryan De La Cruz was one of the very best things about the 2021 post-trade deadline Miami Marlins. Plucked from the Astros farm system in exchange for pending free agent reliever Yimi García, De La Cruz broke into the big leagues in a pressure-free situation. Within a few weeks, he was hitting over .300 and he didn’t dip beneath that elite threshold until the final days of the regular season. Wow!
Most analysts anticipated DLC’s batting stats to regress as a sophomore. However, with an innate feel for finding gaps in opposing defenses and the versatility to handle all three outfield positions, he was poised to help them win meaningful games in 2022.