Elly is Minors’ most electric player — just ask his peers

For Louisville teammate Andrew Abbott, it was a 512-foot homer final July with Double-A Chattanooga that may have been thought of the longest homer of the Statcast period (since 2015) had it come within the Majors.

“I remember he hit the ball, and our dugout and their dugout all went to the TrackMan unit in the corner to see how far the ball went,” mentioned the left-hander, “because when he hit it, everyone was like, ‘Oh my.’”

For Chuckie Robinson, it was when De La Cruz tripled to left-center on April 27 in Iowa and made it to the bag in 11.19 seconds, the second-fastest home-to-first time in Triple-A this season.

“I’m pretty sure he was jogging the whole time,” the catcher mentioned.

For Pat Kelly, it was De La Cruz’s first Triple-A success on April 20 — a bouncer previous a diving second baseman that De La Cruz in some way become a double.

“No human runs that fast,” mentioned the Bats skipper. “I mean, I had Billy Hamilton, and I don’t think Billy runs that fast.”

Maybe somebody may share a narrative a few De La Cruz single to finish the cycle.

The foundation of every of those seemingly tall tales is an easy reality: The Reds’ high prospect is probably the most electrical participant within the Minor Leagues proper now.

So right here’s perhaps a very powerful story price telling — De La Cruz’s batting eye and strategy are bettering, simply in time for him to push for the Majors.

The switch-hitting infielder’s distinctive energy, velocity and throwing instruments — did we point out he has a number of throws clocked at 99-plus mph this season? — have all the time include the caveat that the Cincinnati phenom will strike out. He fanned in 30.8 % of his plate appearances between Chattanooga and High-A Dayton final season (the seventh-highest Okay fee within the Reds’ system), creating concern that he wouldn’t make sufficient contact towards extra superior arms to take advantage of his appreciable instruments.

The Reds promoted De La Cruz to Triple-A to open his age-21 season to check out that contact capacity towards the Minors’ most skilled pitchers, and it’s trying just like the Dominican Republic native is popping maybe his solely weak point right into a energy.

De La Cruz went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks in Thursday’s 13-1 win over Jacksonville within the MLB Pipeline Game of the Month. Since May 9, he’s walked 13 instances in 9 video games, most amongst all Minor Leaguers in that span. Comparatively, he’s struck out solely 9 instances over 44 plate appearances for a way more palatable Okay fee of 20.5 %. He’s slashing .333/.546/.700 in these 9 contests, including persistence to his normal top-of-the-scale energy.

To De La Cruz, the reply for the turnaround is easy.

“It’s all about just stopping swinging at bad pitches, waiting for my pitch and taking my walks when I can,” he mentioned through Reds workforce translator Jorge Merlos.

OK, it’s somewhat extra nuanced than that.

“Really, it’s all the breaking balls in the dirt,” De La Cruz mentioned. “Now, I’ve learned that they’re going to throw me those pitches, and I’m just not going to swing at them anymore.”

From his season debut on April 20 to May 8, De La Cruz swung at 32.4 % of pitches outdoors the zone, in response to knowledge compiled by BrooksBaseball.internet. (Major League common for O-swing share this season is 28.3 coming into Thursday.) From May 9 by way of Thursday’s two-walk efficiency, he swung at solely 25.2 % of balls outdoors the zone. On balls particularly decrease than the strike zone, his swing fee dropped from 38.8 % earlier than May 9 to 30 % after it — sufficient of a delta to clarify the distinction between general O-swing percentages by itself.

On Thursday alone, he confronted 16 pitches outdoors the zone and solely swung at two (12.5 %).

De La Cruz’s season slash line now sits at .280/.379/.570 by way of 24 video games for Louisville, whereas his 2023 Okay fee sits at 28.7 %, his lowest-ever mark with a full-season membership.

“I think he’s recognizing how clubs are pitching him,” Kelly mentioned. “They’re pitching around him a lot of times, especially if there’s an open base. It’s a lot more offspeed stuff. He’s learning to take it, especially balls out of the zone. It’s been very impressive.”

In his job as a backstop, Robinson, who earned his Major League debut final summer time, has to have the ability to break down hitters, and even he admits he wouldn’t know what to do with De La Cruz when he’s spitting on dangerous pitches like he’s now.

“He can hit it opposite field, and he can pull it,” mentioned the 28-year-old catcher. “He has a great eye. He’s keyholing, so you have to come to him. If you miss middle, he can hit a ball a long ways.”

De La Cruz proved what he can do with meatballs on May 9 (the beginning of this newest scorching streak) when he crushed two homers and a double all at 116-plus mph exit velocities. No Major League workforce — by no means thoughts particular person participant — within the Statcast period had crossed that exit velo threshold thrice in a single sport.

That was simply one other chapter within the tall story of 6-foot-5 Elly De La Cruz. The subsequent might be written within the Queen City.

“We’re close, we’re definitely close,” De La Cruz mentioned. “We’re still out there on the field, getting our work done. But it’s not like I’m really trying to force myself out there. It’s just that I know I’m close enough to be called up.”

And now that the ultimate instrument could also be locked in, so is De La Cruz’s confidence.

“Everything’s ready,” he mentioned. “We’re just waiting for that call to get us up there.”