Elly

De La Cruz

De La Cruz’s fourth-inning homer off Giants starter Tyler Mahle traveled a staggering 442 feet after leaving his bat at a crisp 109.3 mph. He also struck out three times in the contest. The 24-year-old fantasy superstar off to a nice start this season, especially in the batting average department, hitting .282 (20-for-71) with 15 runs scored, six homers, 11 RBI and five steals through 18 games.

The homer, De La Cruz’s fifth of the year, was pretty meaningless for the Reds, as the team was down by six runs with two outs in the ninth. Fantasy leaguers will take it, though. The Reds have had just a two-man offense this season, with De La Cruz and Sal Stewart both crushing it despite an extreme lack of help. The two have nine of the team’s 15 homers. After Stewart at 1.035 and De La Cruz at .924, the next highest OPS on the club is Nathaniel Lowe’s .664.

De La Cruz knocked a base hit in the first, stole second, then scored the first run of the game on a single. He added a pair of doubles in the fourth and sixth before walking and collecting his second steal in the eighth. The 24-year-old shortstop is filling all categories early, with four homers and five steals while slashing .271/.358/.525 across 67 plate appearances.

De La Cruz was responsible for one of the Reds’ four hits on the night, with his lone knock traveling 401 feet into right-center to tack on an extra run in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was Elly’s first homer since April 3rd. The star shortstop is hitting just .236 on the season, but has a .323 OBP and is slugging .473 on the season. We’re still waiting on his first true breakout game of the season.

De La Cruz did get doubled up at third on a baserunning mistake, but it was a solid game regardless for the shortstop. The steal was the first of the season for EDLC, and assuredly not the last after swiping 104 over the last two seasons. A pair of hits — including one in the eighth inning that ended up being the game-winner — now has De La Cruz slashing .243/.300/.486 over the first nine contests.

The dynamic 24-year-old superstar did his damage in the opening inning of this one, following a Matt McLain single with a majestic 438-foot (114.5 mph EV) two-run blast off of Cole Irvin that gave the Reds a 2-1 advantage. He also singled in the fifth inning and rode home on Nathaniel Lowe’s three-run blast. De La Cruz is off to a blistering start this spring, hitting .444 (8-for-18) with a pair of homers and seven RBI — though he has yet to steal a base.

De La Cruz has a homer, a triple and three doubles in nine trips to the plate this spring. Fully healed from the quad tear he suffered last July and played through the rest of the way, he should get back to looking like he did in 2024. He’s worthy of a selection in the back half of round one in drafts.

De La Cruz doubled home a pair of runs in the fourth on a double. The 24-year-old reportedly turned down a $200 million extension offer from the Reds in January, and it’s understandable why Cincinnati would want to lock him up and why De La Cruz would say no. He has the talent to be as good as anyone in the sport.

The gold standard there is the 10-year, $225 million deal that Joey Votto signed 14 years ago. The proposal was somewhere in between there and the 11-year, $288.8 million contract that Bobby Witt Jr. signed with the Royals two years ago. Like Witt then, De La Cruz currently has two years of service time. He’s slated to be eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.

Krall clarified that the partial tear or strain was more of a nagging issue than something that should have knocked him out of the lineup. Which obviously had to be the case, since De La Cruz went on to play in every single game last season. It wasn’t any big secret that De La Cruz wasn’t 100 percent in the second half of the season, but it’s nice to have some kind of clarification into what was going on. De La Cruz should still very much be a first-round pick in 2026 drafts.