Elly De La Cruz heats up, delivers big blow in Cincinnati Reds win over White Sox
CHICAGO – It took 14.9 seconds for Elly De La Cruz to go from contact to crossing the plate when he hit that inside-the-park home run Monday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.
He hasn’t stopped running since – or at least rounding the bases.
That was the second of four home runs the Cincinnati Reds’ second-year shortstop has hit in four games this week — two in that game, another Wednesday against the Brewers and then a three-run shot Friday night against the Chicago White Sox.
That last one was the big blow in a five-run third inning that ignited the Reds to a 11-1 victory over the playing-out-the-string-already White Sox in the opener of a three-game series.
The stats people said Friday’s home run went 449 feet, but it looked at least 450.
Either way, De La Cruz is on a tear that suddenly has him in the early team lead both in home runs and stolen bases — the power-speed combination that had Reds officials salivating over his potential since long before his debut last June.
“He does some things on the field that no one else does,” Reds manager David Bell said.
That doesn’t mean he’s not still learning, failing and growing with all the pain that entails with a 22-year-old shortstop being asked to play every day — and play a big role every day for a playoff contender.
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“He’s way, way, way ahead of probably 99 percent of players his age that have had the experience level he has,” Bell said. “It’s incredible what he’s doing. He’s going to be continuing to develop for years to come.
“For him to be handling himself the way he does with a lot of attention, we couldn’t be happier with his development and what he’s doing every day to get better on a team where we’re focused on winning every day.”
De La Cruz reached base three times Friday, including a second-inning single and ninth-inning walk.
That made him 8-for-15 (.533) in the first four games of the week with a walk, five extra-base hits total and a 1.963 OPS for the week. He also scored eight runs, drove in seven and threw in a stolen base for good measure in the four games.
“I’ve got the same mentality,” De La Cruz said of the monster week after more mixed results the first nine games of the season. “I’m just looking for my pitch. I’m seeing the ball well.”
Perhaps most conspicuously, De La Cruz didn’t have a strikeout in the four-game surge after striking out in nearly half his plate appearances before that.
“It’s a positive thing,” he said.
Another of his apparent powers: understatement.
“From playing with him in Daytona all the way up, you can just see the maturity level coming around,” said left-hander Andrew Abbott (1-1), who debuted the day before De La Cruz last June and who made good use on the mound Friday for the fireworks — pitching seven four-hit innings and lowering his three-start season ERA to 2.60.
“The results are going to vary week to week as we know, so it’s just important for him to stay the course and stay on his routine,” said Abbott, who praised De La Cruz’s steady approach through good and bad weeks.
Whether De La Cruz nabs the Reds’ second NL Player of the Week award in as many weeks (Spencer Steer last week), it’s hard to overstate the value to the Reds when this guy can get hot like this past week.
“It’s certainly special, and it’s great to have on our team,” Abbott said, rattling off all the ways De La Cruz can impact a game.
“And the excitement gets you behind him and ready to go,” he said. “So you can kind of ride that wave.”
Notes
Tyler Stephenson’s first home run of the season followed De La Cruz’s shot Friday for the Reds’ second pair of back-to-back shots this season (also Will Benson and Christian Encarnacion-Strand to walk off on the Nationals March 31). … Friday’s win was only the third in 11 games all-time for the Reds on the road against the White Sox. … De La Cruz on Friday extended his streak to 18 games reaching base safely, second only to Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich (23 through Friday) among active streaks.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Elly De La Cruz powering big week for Cincinnati Reds
