The Braves claimed left-hander Daniel Young off waivers from the Mariners and outrighted right-hander Jesus Cruz to Triple-A Gwinnett, the team announced today. The Mariners had designated Young for assignment earlier this week.
Young had a 7.36 ERA over 2 2/3 innings with Seattle this season, marking his first appearance in the big leagues. Originally an eight-round pick for the Blue Jays in the 2015 draft, Young is now reunited with Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, who was Toronto’s general manager when Young’s pro career got underway.
The left-hander has a 3.79 ERA over 299 1/3 career innings in the minors, working as a reliever in all but one of his 230 games. A grounder specialist for much of his career, Young’s strikeout rate shot up to 33.9% over his 28 innings with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate this year, while still inducing grounders at a 55.7% rate. This improvement in his age-28 season earned Young his first cup of coffee in the majors, and now another fresh start in a new organization.
Cruz’s big league resume consists of a single inning with the Cardinals in 2020 and 8 2/3 frames with Atlanta this season, with a 7.45 ERA to show for that brief sample size. The righty has missed plenty of bats over five pro seasons, but he has had some problems with his control and (this season especially at Triple-A) keeping the ball in the park.