Cincinnati’s Number One Prospect Joins The Show
nnn.ng (Getty Images)
Get excited Reds’ fans because 21-year-old Elly De La Cruz is headed to the majors, and you don’t see players like him every day. The infielder measures in at 6’5’’ and 200 pounds with the physical tools to be a star in this league
In his 38 appearances in Triple-A Louisville, De La Cruz has been slashing .298/.398/.633 with twelve homers on the season.
And his dominance continued in the Majors, in his first two games against the Dodgers, he's 3-7 with a homerun, a double, and a triple.
It also seemed like the Dodgers may have been pitching around the young star in his debut, as De La Cruz walked twice in his first game.
The energy De La Cruz has brought with him to the majors has resonated with the entire team, as the Reds have had two walk-off wins in the last two days.
MLB.com’s number four prospect has 70 grade speed, clocking in at 31.0 feet per second. Which passes the threshold for ‘elite’ speed. De La Cruz has also lit up the radar gun with his throws across the diamond, surpassing 99 miles per hour on a throw from third to first.
As for his power at the plate, I’ll just let this clip speak for itself on what the switch-hitter can do to a baseball.
De La Cruz’s game has drawn a number of comparisons to fellow NL Central Shortstop O’Neil Cruz, as both are extremely tall for the position with a very rare power speed combo.
This call up puts the Reds in an interesting position with their middle infield. The Reds have former Rookie of the Year Jonathan India playing second, Spencer Steer at first, May call up Matt McLain playing shortstop, and veteran infield utility man Kevin Newman, who also happened to be playing shortstop for the Pirates before the aforementioned O’Neil Cruz was called up, clogging up the infield.
This doesn’t even take into consideration Nick Senzel, the team’s normal third baseman, who was put on the injured list to make room for the De La Cruz promotion.
While it certainly is a good problem to have for a young team. It’s still a problem nonetheless, and there have been solutions floating around in the media. The most prominent of those is trading Jonathan India, allowing De La Cruz to play shortstop and McLain to take over at second.
Cincinnati’s front office however is “in no hurry” to move India according to Bleacher Report’s Erin Walsh. The Reds have plenty of options for their young stars that could involve moving India to the outfield or to designated hitter. Also, even though De La Cruz is looked upon very highly as a shortstop, his elite speed and monster arm could work just fine in the outfield.
No matter the answer, the 27-33 Reds have a lot to look forward to with the addition of this young phenom onto an already talented young roster.
