Elly De La Cruz

[JCM11]

O'neil Cruz had a .758 OPS in AAA at age 23. Comparing him to Elly is kind of a joke IMO.

[Brisco]

I want to see a 3-5 of McLain, Elly, and CES for the next 6+ years. That's the future I'm most excited about. Elly fits in perfectly as a switch hitter between the other two.

I don't really care if CES is our 107th rated prospect, guy mashes everywhere. Crazily, his number's are even better than De La Cruz's. He's hitting 450 bombs too.

Reds have a lot of solid players right now, but they don't have a lot of power. CES + Elly seem like the perfect prospects for the Reds.

LED as cleanup? Seems a waste of speed and of a new found plate discipline. LED should be in the top three of any lineup. The Bats have him bat second and I actually like that a lot in the new era where it is no longer the primary job of the #2 to move the #1 over.

We learned how much it sucked to have our best hitter pitched around, walked and then stranded with Votto. Putting Elly second makes walking him a lot more dangerous with his speed. It will often mean that both the 3 and 4 hitter have an at bat with RISP in the first inning.

[Bourgeois Zee]

In my dreams, Votto comes back fully healthy and mashes like it's 2021.

The lineup morphs into:

Friedl CF
McLain 2B
EDLC SS
CES DH
Votto 1B
India 3B
Steer RF
Fraley/ Senzel LF
Stephenson/ Casali OR Maile C

Fairchild/ Benson are the 5th and 6th OF and spell Steer in RF when he gives others time off. Steer roams the field as Tony Phillips Lite.

[Marty Brennihan]

LED as cleanup? Seems a waste of speed and of a new found plate discipline. LED should be in the top three of any lineup. The Bats have him bat second and I actually like that a lot in the new era where it is no longer the primary job of the #2 to move the #1 over.

We learned how much it sucked to have our best hitter pitched around, walked and then stranded with Votto. Putting Elly second makes walking him a lot more dangerous with his speed. It will often mean that both the 3 and 4 hitter have an at bat with RISP in the first inning.

Yeah, I probably agree with you here, 2-4 might also be ideal. Things have changed with the pitcher's batting spot gone. I've seen more teams put there better hitters at 2. I 've just grown up with teams batting their best players at 3, 4, 5. But DH does change that. As long as you keep those guys together with some high OBP at top or order, that's what I'm looking. Think Elly's got too much power to be a 1 or 2 though, you want him driving in runs. And being a switch hitter between two righties is important.

Nobody is going to pitch around McLain or Elly to get to CES. I know the prospect list has him at 7. That MLB prospect list also has McLain as the Reds 5th best prospect. They also have Elly's power at 60 and arm at 60, yet I don't know of any player who hits it harder or an infielder who throws 100 mph lasers. I think they are way off. These lists are not infallible.

That MLB prospects site has CES with a 50 hit tool and 55 power. C'mon. he hit 32 HRs last year and has 14 in 142 abs this year in AAA as a 23 yr old all while hitting .353 . Production and past history are important, not just I just organizational rankings. I think it would be foolish to trade CES.

[Benihana]

My ideal 2024 lineup:

LF India
SS Elly
2B McLain
3B Marte (he may be a year or two off from "earning" the cleanup spot, so you could swap him with Steer)
DH CES
1B Steer
RF Fraley/Senzel
C Stephenson
CF Friedl

Once Collier is ready you just move Marte to RF and then that could also be your rest of the decade lineup.

[NC-Red]

O’Neil Cruz has the hardest hit ball of the Statcast era at 122.4 and also had the fastest infield throw last year at 97.8 so the tools are pretty close. I think the biggest difference between the right now is the age and levels at which they are accomplishing things. EDLC in his first full AAA season is a 1.050 OPS bat, whereas OC was a .760 OPS bat. Now take into account EDLC is 21 for the full season whereas OC was 23 for the full season.

The other advantage EDLC has is he is a switch hitter. OC struggled with LHP in the minors and his call up last year, he was a .532 OPS bat with a 55% K rate. EDLC has made significant strides this year and is hitting against LHP & RHP both 1.000+ OPS

It remains to be seen how their careers pan out but at this point EDLC is a more advanced hitter than OC and he is doing it at an earlier age. Those things are generally predictive of more success at the MLB level

Ok thank you, from a birds eye view it would be hard to tell the difference between the two when looking at the baseball diamond. It seems that actual production is the difference.

[Redhook]

Ok thank you, from a birds eye view it would be hard to tell the difference between the two when looking at the baseball diamond. It seems that actual production is the difference.

I’m not trying to be rude, but this made me laugh pretty hard. Yes, actual production is the difference. From a bird’s eye view, Zach Wilson will look like Aaron Rodgers on the practice fields this summer.

[corkedbat]

Ok thank you, from a birds eye view it would be hard to tell the difference between the two when looking at the baseball diamond. It seems that actual production is the difference.

Day-um! Rough night for Elly - 5 AB's/5 K's

[Sea Ray]

O'neil Cruz had a .758 OPS in AAA at age 23. Comparing him to Elly is kind of a joke IMO.

Also stolen bases. Each has 71 stolen bases in their minor league career. O'neil Cruz got his in 460 games. Our Elly Cruz got his in 259 games

Mainly I think the biggest issue is O'Neil Cruz vs LHPs. Will he overcome that?

Personally I wouldn't trade our guy for theirs

[backbencher]

In my dreams, Votto comes back fully healthy and mashes like it's 2021.

The lineup morphs into:

Friedl CF
McLain 2B
EDLC SS
CES DH
Votto 1B
India 3B
Steer RF
Fraley/ Senzel LF
Stephenson/ Casali OR Maile C

Fairchild/ Benson are the 5th and 6th OF and spell Steer in RF when he gives others time off. Steer roams the field as Tony Phillips Lite.

As dreams go, it's a good one.

Votto as a real LHH in the lineup would be tremendous.

- - - Updated - - -

My ideal 2024 lineup:

LF India
SS Elly
2B McLain
3B Marte (he may be a year or two off from "earning" the cleanup spot, so you could swap him with Steer)
DH CES
1B Steer
RF Fraley/Senzel
C Stephenson
CF Friedl

Once Collier is ready you just move Marte to RF and then that could also be your rest of the decade lineup.

100%
(Though McLain seems more a 2-hitter and ELDC the 3)

Lock this group up.

[mth123]

I want all the fast guys bunched together at the top before clogging them with a slow guys. This would be tonight's line-up if the Reds would cooperate and make the move. If you want to get EDLC a guaranteed first inning PA, I'd drop Friedl to 9th, but I think he's been very effective and seems a waste to put him in the 9 spot.

India 3B
Friedl CF
McLain 2B
EDLC SS
CES DH
Steer 1B
Stephenson C
Fraley/Senzel LF (can Newman play LF??)
TJ Hopkins

Probably Fairchild, Barrero and Benson go down for now, but I'd look to move a Catcher and cut back to 2 Catchers and bring Benson back as a lefty option to pair with Hopkins in RF (probably not a straight platoon though). No more 1B or DH time for Stephenson, so 3 catchers isn't necessary.


Worry about how Marte fits in the off-season and what to ultimately do when he arrives. Meanwhile, I'd start giving him some time in the OF in AA.

[klw]

Day-um! Rough night for Elly - 5 AB's/5 K's

Bust but with his arm maybe he can be salvaged as a middle reliever.

[icehole3]

Tools-wise, EDLC is a modern-day Mickey Mantle.

I agree with everything you mentioned about EDLC. IMO he's more Willie Mays than Mantle with all the triples. I also would like the Reds to put EDLC in RF. I want EDLC's offense more than his defense. Also I'm impressed with McLain's defense at SS. I want EDLC's offense 130-150 games a year. I want him in RF so he'll get maybe 4-5 balls hit his way a game and no one running at him at 2nd base. Let him be a yearly 40-40 guy with 20-25 triples.

[CaiGuy]

Based on the projected roster now (Would be nice to see another OF picked up)


McLain 2B
EDLC SS
India 3B
Fraley LF
CES DH
Friedl RF
Steer 1B
Stephenson C
Barerro CF

Senzel IF/OF
Fairchild OF
Some middle infielder
Casali C


Deep lineup.

[Dave C]

Eric Davis' AAA stats. The slugging % is insane. 141 hits.... 66 for extra bases. Add 71 steals to that.

G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB
135 550 477 108 141 23 7 36 91 71 17 62 144 .296 .380 .600 .979 286

Not sure EDLC will get to 135 games (I hope not), but if he did he'd get these numbers is my guess. Maybe not the steals but the rest is in his grasp.