De La Cruz becomes Reds’ first No. 1 overall prospect since ’08
Cincinnati Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz hits the ball as hard as anyone in baseball, is one of the fastest runners and has one of the best arms from shortstop.
His latest feat? Claiming the title of No. 1 overall prospect.
De La Cruz was named ESPN’S top prospect this week by their MLB insider Kiley Mcdaniel. The 6-foot-6 switch-hitting shortstop is rated as the No. 3 prospect by Baseball America, No. 4 prospect by Mlb.com and No. 5 by Fangraphs.
In 28 games at Triple-a Louisville, entering Friday, the 21-year-old De La Cruz is batting .283 with eight homers, nine doubles, 28 RBIS and 25 runs. He’s posted a .383 on-base percentage with 19 walks to 39 strikeouts, adding nine stolen bases in 14 attempts.
“He’s playing well, continuing to develop,” Reds manager David Bell said. “That’s not a surprise. We know a lot about Elly. He’s right on track with everything he’s doing. He’s getting better. He’s making progress at the plate. He’s playing shortstop every day now since Matt (Mclain’s) been here. He’s doing everything he needs to be doing right now.”
Entering the season, the biggest question mark surrounding De La Cruz was his plate discipline. He struck out in 31% of his plate appearances throughout each minor league level, a strikeout rate on par at the MLB level with guys such as Eugenio Suárez. At Triple-a, to this point, De La Cruz has slightly lowered his strikeout rate (28%) while nearly doubling his walk rate (12.5%).
De La Cruz missed the first few weeks of the season recovering from a hamstring injury, but he’s been dominant throughout May. In 19 games this month, he’s hitting .329 with a .441 onbase percentage while recording nearly as many walks (15) as strikeouts (20).
De La Cruz is the Reds’ first No. 1 overall prospect since Jay Bruce in 2008. Nick Senzel, when he was promoted in 2019, was a consensus top-10 prospect and rated in the top five in some publications.