‘Know yourself’: Elly De La Cruz is trying to make his rookie year feel normal
Cincinnati Reds rookie shortstop Elly De La Cruz is starting to get used to being famous.
He’s in national commercials now. He gets recognized wherever he goes, which is a different experience for someone who was an unheralded prospect two years ago. When the Reds added outfielders Harrison Bader and Hunter Renfroe last week, they both mentioned the excitement of playing with the 21-year-old phenom.
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As the spotlight gets brighter and brighter, De La Cruz is going through his first slump in years. Since August 1, De La Cruz is hitting .197 with a .640 OPS. During that stretch, he struck out in 44% of his at-bats, including two four-strikeout games over the weekend against the Chicago Cubs.
De La Cruz seeks out advice from veterans like Joey Votto and other star players around baseball. He’s learning how to handle an unordinary combination of highs and lows.
“They say, ‘You have to know yourself and take care of yourself as much as possible,’” De La Cruz said via interpreter Jorge Merlos.
De La Cruz makes an unbelievable play or a game-changing hit every few games to give a reminder of why he’s becoming one of the young faces of baseball. Recently, De La Cruz became the fastest player in MLB history to reach 10 home runs and 20 stolen bases. He’s becoming a household name.
At the same time, he’s a young rookie trying to figure out MLB pitching. As he prepares for every game, he searches for ways to make contact more often.
“You have to work,” De La Cruz said. “Nothing changes whether you’re in the lower leagues or the big leagues. We’re always trying to do the best we can do to the best we can. I'm still working on looking for my pitch and my plate discipline. That’s my biggest focus right now.”
After De La Cruz got called up in June, he hit the ground running and quickly won an NL Player of the Week award. He had immediate success, just like he did at every level of the minor leagues.
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Between 2021 and his call up in June, De La Cruz was the best player in every league he was in. In Triple-A, De La Cruz posted a 1.031 OPS and delivered an incredible highlight play every game. He earned a call-up to MLB sooner than anyone in the Reds’ organization was expecting.
The Reds are being carried by rookies, and they’re all facing pressure as the Reds try to stay alive in the playoff race. No other Reds player has had the spotlight focused on them as much as De La Cruz.
“He has been the No. 1 prospect for a while, and there are expectations that come with that,” Reds shortstop Matt McLain said. “It takes a certain type of guy to enjoy it and thrive in it the way that he does. It goes to show you the type of person he is.”
There’s no blueprint for how to help a 21-year-old prodigy with barely any minor league experience with the process of acclimating to the big leagues. The Reds’ approach has been encouraging De La Cruz to be himself. They want him flipping his bat, forming his hands into a heart and flashing up four fingers on each hand after he has a big moment on the field. He wears colorful wristbands and pink batting gloves.
In Reds manager David Bell’s first conversation with De La Cruz after the team called him up, Bell told De La Cruz that he didn’t want De La Cruz to try to change. He wanted to see the same joy that De La Cruz played with throughout his minor league career.
“He has confidence in himself,” Bell said. “He’s as prepared as you possibly can be. He has a way about him where he’s very comfortable in who he is. That helps a lot. I think he enjoys (the pressure), but he doesn’t really stress about it. He knows why he’s here and what’s important to him. He just focuses on that.”
Bell says that being protective of his players is a part of being a manager in the big leagues, but “it’s not realistic to think you can totally protect someone from everything.”
There have only been ten 21-year-old shortstops since 2000 with at least 300 at-bats in a big league season. Unlike most of those players, De La Cruz is batting in the middle of the order for a team that’s in the playoff race.
“We’re keeping the focus with Elly on things that matter and being supportive,” Bell said. “We have that kind of environment, and I think it helps. There was no major plan in place for him to handle it, which says a lot about how he has handled it. He’s doing a lot of it on his own. He’s learning a lot. I don’t see any negative effects of what he’s going through.”
Before De La Cruz got called up, there was a story that members of the Reds front office loved to tell. De La Cruz went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in one of his Triple-A games. But when the Louisville Bats won the game on a walk-off, De La Cruz was the first player running out of the dugout to celebrate. He carried a big smile and a Gatorade cooler to douse his teammate.
A few months later, De La Cruz did the exact same thing. He went 0-for-4 in a Reds win over the Cubs in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, but he celebrated third baseman Noelvi Marte’s walk-off with the same enthusiasm he would have celebrated his own walk-off. The next day, De La Cruz bounced back and hit the game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“Elly is the same guy he was when he was in the minors,” McLain said. “He shows up every day with a smile on his face, joking around and trying to get better. He likes to have fun. He’s a great guy to have in the clubhouse, and he’s fun to be around.”
De La Cruz is in the middle of an experience that he has dreamed about for his entire life. He grew up in the Dominican Republic completely focused on making it to the big leagues and delivering big hits during the stretch run of a playoff race.
De La Cruz has also become a celebrity. Patrick Mahomes asked him for a signed jersey. His highlights go viral. He regularly accomplishes feats that have never been done on a baseball field before.
“People tell me that taking care of yourself and your image is the most important thing that you should do,” De La Cruz said. “(The attention) is really nice, but honestly, everything just feels normal. Nothing really ever changes. I appreciate everything, but I make it feel normal to me. It’s awesome, but I have to keep being the same person.”
De La Cruz has become a star, but he also has one of the clearest scouting reports in MLB. Teams are throwing him changeups, splitters, and breaking balls. De La Cruz keeps chasing pitches low in the strike zone, so pitchers throw him those pitches more and more often.
Now, De La Cruz has to break out of that slump in the most important games he has ever played in. The Reds’ offense hasn’t been consistent, and the team needs its most talented hitter to get hot and help lead the Reds to the playoffs.
De La Cruz said he tries not to think about that perspective.
“I never feel pressure when I go out there,” De La Cruz said. “My mindset is never that I’ve got to do something. I’m just going out there to battle as hard as I can. I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to do exactly the best thing that could happen. But I know that I put all of my effort out there. I know that I can say that I’m going to battle as hard as I can.”
Recently, Bell was asked about De La Cruz’s tough August. Bell said, “He had a tough August?” Even though De La Cruz’s batting average significantly dropped, Bell reflected on how many other ways De La Cruz had won the Reds games. De La Cruz makes diving plays at shortstop, unleashes 99 mph throws and takes unlikely extra bases that have saved or created runs.
The Reds have told De La Cruz to stay just as aggressive at the plate because a hot streak from him could lead the team to the playoffs. But right now, De La Cruz just wants to be a more consistent big league hitter.
“To be doing what he’s doing at this stage of his development, there’s nothing but positive thoughts towards what he’s doing within our organization and our team,” Bell said. “None of us have ever gone through what he’s going through. He’s managing it really well. We keep a close eye on that. It’s very impressive.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz approaches his rookie season
