Jonathan Davis DeLuca (born July 10, 1998 in Thousand Oaks, CA) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023 for the Los Angeles Dodgers before being traded to Tampa Bay in the offseason with Ryan Pepiot for Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot. According to Geneanet.org, the surname Deluca largely hails from the Campania, Calbria and Sicily regions of Italy.

Jonny attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, California. He was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 39th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and played college baseball at the University of Oregon. In 2018, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named a league all-star. After two years at Oregon, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 25th round of the 2019 MLB Draft and signed.

DeLuca made his professional debut with the rookie-level Arizona League Dodgers in 2019, where he hit .273 in 26 games. DeLuca did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He returned to action in 2021 to play for the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and High-A Great Lakes Loons, hitting a combined .264 in 101 games with 22 home runs and 64 RBI. DeLuca started the 2022 season with Great Lakes before being promoted to the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. Between the two levels, he played in 98 games and hit .260 with 25 homers and 71 RBI.

DeLuca, an avid surfer and mountain-bike rider in high school, didn’t develop into a big league prospect until college, where he lifted weights seriously for the first time and added 30 pounds to his compact, sturdy frame while maintaining his speed and agility. The surplus strength, melded with his mastery of biomechanics and increased exposure to professional pitching, put DeLuca on a faster track to the major leagues.

On November 15, 2022, the Dodgers added DeLuca to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He returned to Tulsa to begin the 2023 season and was promoted to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers on May 16. After just 17 games there, he was called up to the majors for the first time on June 4, 2023. Jonny made his debut against the Cincinnati Reds on June 7 as the starting centerfielder. He was hitless in two at-bats with a walk in his debut. His first major league hit was a single to center field off of Ranger Suárez of the Philadelphia Phillies on June 9.

Jonny is on Instagram at jonny_deluca.

(parts excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen, LATimes, and Wikipedia)