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NL Rookie of the Year odds: Can Elly De La Cruz catch Corbin Carroll?

Frank Schwab
NFL writer
·3 min read
11

Elly De La Cruz might be the best story in baseball this year. He has only been in the majors for 20 days.

It doesn't matter. The 21-year-old Cincinnati Reds infielder has put together a season's worth of highlights in less than three weeks. The Reds had their first 12-game winning streak since 1957 and climbed to first place in the NL Central. In the process De La Cruz became a viral sensation.

But there's still the matter of those two lost months. Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was up on Opening Day and has been awesome all season. The BetMGM odds on NL Rookie of the Year show that De La Cruz has a long way to go to catch Carroll.

Odds for NL Rookie of the Year

The odds for NL ROY at BetMGM are weird. Carroll is a huge favorite, De La Cruz put himself on the map in less than a month and nobody else is being given any chance at all.

Carroll is -500 to win the award, which is a heavy favorite at this point in the season. Carroll is second to Ronald Acuña Jr. in the NL MVP odds. He has been amazing.

De La Cruz jumped up to +500 odds for NL Rookie of the Year. That's a testament to how exciting he has been in a short time. He is 6-foot-5, has unbelievable power and is as fast as any player in the majors. He's perfect for the social media age, because his highlights are breathtaking.

And every other player in the NL Rookie of the Year market is 50-to-1 or more. So no offense to New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, Miami Marlins pitcher Eury Perez or anyone else, but it's clearly a two-man race.

And, maybe it's just a one-man race.

Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz, right, has been a revelation this month. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)
Cincinnati Reds' Elly De La Cruz has been a revelation this month. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)

Does Elly De La Cruz have a shot?

Carroll was a big-time prospect and he has lived up to the hype for the Diamondbacks. Carroll is hitting .290 with 16 homers, 41 RBI and 23 steals. If not for Acuña being on pace for one of the most unbelievable statistical seasons of the modern era, Carroll would be getting even more buzz in the MVP conversation as a rookie.

De La Cruz would have to have a heck of a four-month stretch to catch Carroll, and he'd probably still need Carroll to slump or miss time due to injury. Even if Carroll doesn't maintain that pace, putting up 16 homers and 23 steals in the Diamondbacks' first 79 games gives him a great foundation for the rest of the season.

If Carroll does slip at all it's clear by the odds that De La Cruz would go to the front of the line in the ROY race, but his odds surge is probably due more to the attention he has gotten rather than a legitimate chance to win the award. You can blame the Reds for not calling him up until June.

If De La Cruz keeps playing like he has and the Reds win the NL Central, he could end up being what we remember most about this season. Even if someone else wins NL Rookie of the Year.