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.

De La Cruz and Marcell Ozuna were the only hitters expected to be on the Opening Day roster that made the trip on Thursday. After grounding out in his first at-bat, De La Cruz doubled off of Konnor Pilkington to open the fourth inning, ultimately coming around to score on a fly ball off the bat of Conner Capel. The 28-year-old outfielder looks like he’ll open the season on the short side of a platoon in right field until Ronald Acuña Jr. (knee) is ready to return.

It’s a non-guaranteed deal, so De La Cruz will still have to make the team. The addition of a righty probably doesn’t take the Braves out of the market for a lefty outfielder to help fill in for Ronald Acuña Jr. and maybe supplant Jarred Kelenic in time. De La Cruz’s stock plummeted after he hit just .200/.220/.294 as a trade-deadline acquisition in Pittsburgh. He’s a poor defender in the outfield corners with a career 90 OPS+, so he’s very much in danger of falling out of the league.

There was more than one team interested in Cruz when the Pirates got him from the Marlins at the deadline, but no team was looking to trade for him now after he hit just .200/.220/.294 in 44 games for Pittsburgh. There’s still some promise in De La Cruz’s bat, but through 475 major league games, he’s sporting a 90 OPS+, and he’s a bit of a liability in an outfield corner. If he wants to remain a starter, it’ll probably have to be with a non-contender. The Pirates still have Jack Suwinski as an option, but they will surely be in the market for someone to join Bryan Reynolds and Oneil Cruz in their outfield.