Rolando De La Cruz Signs to Los Angeles Angels
7/18/2024 1:00:00 PM | Baseball, General
ABILENE - One day after the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft concluded, Rolando De La Cruz announced his signing to the Los Angeles Angels.
De La Cruz follows Dash Albus as the two ACU players to be picked up by professional teams in 2024.
The undrafted signee is a native of the Dominican Republic, and started his collegiate career at Trinidad State. De La Cruz came to Abilene in the fall of 2022 to play his last two eligible seasons as a Wildcat. The right-handed pitcher totaled 22 appearances with 44 innings pitched, two wins, three saves and 35 strikeouts in his two years at ACU.
"It's great to see Rolando continue his career with the Angels," said ACU head coach Rick McCarty. "He has been pitching for years and still has a lot of room to develop on the mound. He showed a ton of progress here. But, he still has a lot of room to reach his ceiling, which says a lot with a 95-97 mph fastball."
De La Cruz has not only made an impact on the field, but at ACU as a whole.
"Ro was an elite teammate with an infectious personality," said McCarty. "His energy and work ethic set him apart each day. He embodies what we want in a student-athlete.
"He poured into others, graduated with a 3.7 GPA, and now gets to live his dream of playing professional baseball. He deserves every good thing that he receives in the future."
With De La Cruz and Albus, the ACU baseball program now has 16 players that have been picked up to kick start their professional careers.
Albus was recently drafted in the 19th round in the 2024 MLB Draft. More details about Albus can be found here.
