He played for the Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers, Tokyo Yakult Swallows, and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions from 2007 to 2012.

[3] De La Cruz made his MLB debut on June 18, 2007, at the age of 23,[2] relieving Jason Grilli and pitching one scoreless inning in a 9–8 win over the Washington Nationals.

[2] At the end of the year, the Tigers traded Cruz along with Andrew Miller, Cameron Maybin, Mike Rabelo, Dallas Trahern, and Burke Badenhop to the Florida Marlins for Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera.

[2] During his only career start in the second game of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants on May 25, he surrendered two earned runs across three innings pitched.

[7] The San Diego Padres acquired De La Cruz on March 25, 2009,[2] for a player to be named later or cash from the Marlins.

[2] De La Cruz signed with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball for the 2010 season.

[12] After being released by the Cubs, De La Cruz signed with the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

De La Cruz went on to play in winter leagues in his home country, Mexico, and Venezuela during the rest of 2014 and in 2015.

[3] De La Cruz did not play for the club in 2020, due to the cancellation of the LMB season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[15] He played for Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League from November to December 2020, his second stint with the team.