Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets announced on Friday night that they’ve received Luis De La Cruz from the Baltimore Orioles as the player to be named later from the James McCann trade that happened last month.
As part of the deal, the Orioles will also pay $5 million of McCann’s $24 million salary over the next two seasons.
De La Cruz, 20, hit .291/.396/.349 with five doubles, no home runs, and three stolen bases in 33 games for the Dominican Summer League Orioles last season. The left-handed hitter has only one home run in 60 career games, though he does have a .405 OBP in that span and has struck out only 18% of the time.
De La Cruz played 16 games at first base, eight games in left field, and four games in right field in 2022. De La Cruz got a $130,000 signing bonus in the 2019 international free agency class but the pandemic delayed his debut to 2021.
Luis De La Cruz was not on any Orioles prospect list at the time of the trade.
