Elly De La Cruz

[Wayne Krivsky]

Eww, no.

You don't trade talent like De La Cruz.

Not when it's cheap.

And you wont get much of an argument from me on that. Moving De La Cruz could be as detrimental to the Reds as if they had flipped Votto for Erik Bedard back in the day. I still don't rule it out though because he is the one player who could bring back a massive haul to the Reds. If the Reds are in a position to compete in 2024, and Cruz is still in AAA, but scouts dont feel he is quite ready it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's the bait to land that missing piece.

[membengal]

Matt Eddy
@MattEddyBA
·
3h
High-A wRC+ leaders

Filters: qualified, 20U

158 Elly De La Cruz CIN
151 Colt Keith DET
148 Robert Hassell III SD
148 Marco Luciano SF
137 Angel Martinez CLE
133 Drew Romo COL
132 Zac Veen COL
122 Bryan Ramos CHW
116 Jhonkensy Noel CLE
110 Thomas Saggese TEX

[wolfboy]

[mth123]

Two more HR for De La Cruz today (so far). Well past time for a promotion.

[Mitri]

Goodness.

[paulrichjr]

And you wont get much of an argument from me on that. Moving De La Cruz could be as detrimental to the Reds as if they had flipped Votto for Erik Bedard back in the day. I still don't rule it out though because he is the one player who could bring back a massive haul to the Reds. If the Reds are in a position to compete in 2024, and Cruz is still in AAA, but scouts dont feel he is quite ready it wouldn't surprise me at all if he's the bait to land that missing piece.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a Top 10 prospect in all of baseball…this year. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was starting for the Reds in 2024. It would shock me if he were traded to put the Reds over the top in 2024 for multiple reasons.

[kaldaniels]

I don’t think I’ve ever been as proud as starting a thread as this one.

I just sprained my arm patting myself on the back.

[JCM11]

I have a hard time seeing the Reds doing any winning over the next several years without Elly being a big part of it. If he keeps tearing through the minors I could see him in Cincy this time next year. Early 2024 arrival is probably the safe bet, but this kid is a freak of nature. Some of those home runs he's hit lately are opposite field golf shots from both sides of the plate.

Side note Elly is the first player in the minors to reach the 20/20 mark this year with 20 HR and 26 SB in 30 attempts.

[Benihana]

The new E.D!

[RiverRat13]

I couldn't tell if his second HR yesterday was him being fooled a little bit or him being patient, but either way, it took a strong dude to get that ball over the fence.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[RedTeamGo!]

Anyone else see the article in The Athletic about scouts takes on futures game players? The EDLC clip is, uh, kinda exciting...

https://theathletic.com/3419518/2022...-futures-game/

No one has set the industry ablaze in the last 15 months quite like De La Cruz. He opened eyes in the Florida State League last year and evaluators haven’t stopped ogling the 6-5, 200-pound 20-year-old since. He has power, bat speed, the ability to hit from both sides of the plate — a recent power surge from the right side may have quieted concerns about his performance against lefties — and strong instincts up the middle. He does things on a field that few players can do. And evaluators love his makeup and his enthusiasm for the game. De La Cruz easily can become the face of a franchise. There is a ways for him to go. He’ll need to trim his strikeout rate and continue to prove he’s a shortstop. But he is an impact talent. The consensus among scouts is that De La Cruz is on track to become one of the top prospects in the minors and maybe the best athlete in the entire sport.

We won't talk about what they said about Andrew Abbott lol

[klw]

Baseball Prospectus apparently has him ranked 9th best prospect in its midseason top 50 list. I have no access but here is the link to Doug's article about it:
https://www.redsminorleagues.com/202...t-in-baseball/

[Reds Freak]

We keep clamoring to see him get bumped and I'm curious to what the reason is to leave him in A ball. Matt McLain has been out for awhile so SS is open for the Lookouts and the Dragons have tanked since their first half run.

Speaking of McLain...anyone hear a report on him? He's been out for three weeks or so now and I've never heard why.

[medford]

The face of the franchise thing was an interesting comment. When I saw the Dragons play a few weeks back, I noticed that EDLC had a natural sort of "I'm going to talk to everybody" type of demeanor during the middle of pitching changes. He'd huddle with his 2b and chat up the opposing dude standing on 2nd. A SS version of Sean Casey if you will. Anyhoo, I was left with the impression that if his skill set develops into a star level player and the way he carried himself on the field that day reflects how he interacts with the public and the rest of baseball in general that he could be a "face of the franchise" type player. The kind of dude who could make multiple national commercials if his skill set is that good. A dude that you root for not just because he's good but because he seems so enjoyable.

[JCM11]

The Reds are pretty much De La Cruz or bust as far as the current group of minor leaguers go. I hope they get a star potential player to go with him when Castillo is dealt.