Elly De La Cruz's 'instincts and his brain are just as good' as his speed

SAN FRANCISCO — On Thursday, when the slumping Cincinnati Reds’ lineup was trying to scratch together a run, shortstop Elly De La Cruz tried to steal third. But out of the corner of Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Slade Cecconi’s eye, he could see De La Cruz extending his lead, and Cecconi got De La Cruz out by fooling him with a pickoff move.

One day later, on Friday against the San Francisco Giants, De La Cruz was in the exact same situation. This time, De La Cruz took the perfect lead, read the pitcher’s mechanics, flashed his elite speed and was safe by a mile on the stolen base.

“I told him on Friday that he just had one of my favorite stolen bases of the year,” Reds baserunning coach Collin Cowgill said. “He knew what he was looking for and executed it. The speed is real for sure. But his instincts and his brain are just as good.”

Following a two stolen base game on Friday, De La Cruz led MLB with 25 stolen bases. No other player in baseball has more than 16 stolen bases, and De La Cruz has swiped more bags this year than half of the teams in MLB.

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De La Cruz also became the ninth Major League player since at least 1900 with 25 steals through his team's first 38 games of a season, and the first since Kenny Lofton in 1998. In 2024, he’s on pace to steal over 106 bases.

“Sometimes, it looks like he’s getting faster,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He’s definitely gaining confidence. He’s learning the game. He’ll be learning for a long time. He’s young. He’s still new to the league. It’s the combination of his speed and learning the league more.”

During the offseason, De La Cruz made significant changes to his swing to cut down his strikeout rate. He also made changes to his approach as a baserunner that were just as significant.

Despite his world-class speed, De La Cruz got caught stealing eight times last year, and he only stole 35 total bases in 98 games.

He had to get better at reading different situations. Sometimes last year, De La Cruz was in such a rush to steal second base that he ran on the first pitch and was caught on a pitchout.

On a few occasions, De La Cruz tried to steal second base on a hit-and-run that resulted in a foul ball, and then De La Cruz would try to steal on the very next pitch and get thrown out.

This year, De La Cruz has been picked off four times. But he’s learning from his mistakes, and he’s correcting them.

“I wait for the right moment and I take advantage of it,” De La Cruz said. “I’m always looking for the next base. It’s instincts. I also study the movements of the pitcher. You can see when to go.”

Before every game, the Reds’ position players go through a base stealing meeting with Cowgill where they study the tendencies of the opposing pitcher and identify chances to run. They identify some situations where most of the Reds’ position players could swipe an extra base. But there are also some situations that only De La Cruz could take advantage of.

Because of his feel for the game, his mental preparation and his speed, De La Cruz has the ultimate green light.

“He has learned when to run,” Cowgill said. “If he’s patient and picks his spots, he’s very hard to get thrown out. His baseball IQ is off the charts. I’m watching him grow and learn. If he gets picked off, he registers it. Now, he knows what it feels like when they try to pick him off. He’s developing into a great baseball player.”

De La Cruz is also making adjustments to the way he runs. Last year, he exclusively slid head first when he ran the bases. This year, he’s starting to slide feet first in specific situations.Cowgill said that no one on the Reds has a dirtier jersey than De La Cruz. Because of how many bases he steals and how many diving plays he makes, De La Cruz is constantly pushing himself.Sliding feet first puts less wear and tear on his body, and De La Cruz has added the ability to do that when he knows he’s going to beat the throw by a significant margin.

“It’s a self preservation thing,” Cowgill said. “He knows that when he can get to the bag really early, he can do some self preservation instead of opening up an old wound. With things like that, he’s starting to understand who he is and how to play.”De La Cruz is still only 22 years old, and he’s learning on the fly in the big leagues. He didn’t make his debut in A-ball until the second half of the 2021 season, and De La Cruz is constantly facing situations in the game that he hasn’t had a ton of experience with.

De La Cruz keeps improving his feel for what to do and what not to do, for example, when there’s one out in the seventh inning, the Reds are down by a run, the middle of the order is at the plate and the opposing pitcher doesn’t have a great pickoff move.

He’s more patient than he was last year. But more often than not, De La Cruz is going to run.

“He has a lot of confidence,” Bell said. “He always believes he can make it.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Elly De La Cruz's patience and his instincts help him steal bases