Former Braves top prospect Cristian Pache redeems betrayal by signing with Phillies rival

Once upon a time, Cristian Pache was the top prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization and was dubbed their center fielder of the future. Unfortunately, after appearing in just 24 games over parts of two seasons with Atlanta, the team decided to trade him to the Oakland Athletics in the deal that brought Matt Olson to Atlanta.

Obviously, that deal turned out to be a heist for Alex Anthopoulos. Olson has continued to be one of the best first basemen in all of baseball, and while Shea Langeliers is a nice player, the A's didn't exactly receive a haul in return.

A big reason for that is because Pache never amounted to anything while with the A's. He played just one underwhelming season with the team before losing his starting job and getting traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Just like that, he wasn't only back in the NL East, but he was with Atlanta's biggest rivals.

Pache didn't light the world on fire in Philadelphia, but carved out a role as the team's fourth outfielder for parts of two seasons. Even while he didn't dominate with the Phillies, Braves fans didn't want to see their former top prospect with their biggest rival. Now, Pache's latest decision should make Braves fans feel a little bit better, as he's inked a deal with one of Philadelphia's rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, according to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com.

The deal is a minor league pact with an invitation to Spring Training.

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Braves fans can be on board with Cristian Pache's new landing spot

Watching Pache with the Phillies was tough, but having him end up with the team that eliminated Philadelphia in the postseason just a couple of years ago makes up for it.

Now, the only question is what kind of opportunity Pache will have in Arizona. The Diamondbacks have Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Jake McCarthy, and Alek Thomas all on their MLB roster. Perhaps Pache will be used in more of a depth capacity. He doesn't provide much with the bat as Braves fans know, but his defense and speed would play well, especially in a spacious center field at Chase Field.

In Arizona, Braves fans can actually root for Pache to turn into the quality MLB player they thought he'd be (other than the six or seven times that they play each other), which will be a nice change of pace for sure.