Elly De La Cruz

Reds Plan To Keep Elly De La Cruz At Shortstop

By Charlie Wright | October 17, 2025 at 4:10pm CDT

Elly De La Cruz has led the league in errors the past two seasons, but the Reds intend to keep him at shortstop, at least for the time being. President of baseball operations Nick Krall spoke to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com for a piece about Cincinnati’s top prospects. With shortstop prospect Edwin Arroyo knocking on the door of the majors, Krall was asked if there were plans to move De La Cruz off the position. “As of right now, no,” Krall told Sheldon.

After posting 29 errors in 2024, De La Cruz racked up another 26 this past season. He’s been at least three errors clear of the next-closest defender in each of the past two seasons. Durability is somewhat at play here. De La Cruz has been remarkably healthy in his first two full seasons in the big leagues, appearing in at least 160 games both times. More games equal more fielding opportunities, though De La Cruz has also struggled on a per-chance basis. He finished with the third-worst fielding percentage among qualified players in 2025.

De La Cruz has tantalizing tools at the position. He averaged 92.2 mph on throws in 2025, which ranked in the 93rd percentile. De La Cruz posted standout marks in terms of range last season, with StatCast having him at 14 Outs Above Average. That mark plummeted to -3 this past year, though.

Center field has been rumored as a future destination for De La Cruz. It’s a path many struggling infielders have taken over the years, with Oneil Cruz serving as the most recent notable example. Cruz finished second in errors last season with 26. While a couple of those miscues came in the outfield, 24 of them were at shortstop. Pittsburgh moved Cruz to the outfield full-time in 2025, opting to go with the sure-handed Isiah Kiner-Falefa at shortstop.

While Arroyo might not be an immediate MLB option, Cincinnati has alternatives already on the big-league roster. Matt McLain made 52 starts at the position when he first debuted in 2023. The same goes for Noelvi Marte, who played a handful of games at shortstop when he first joined the Reds. Santiago Espinal has plenty of experience up the middle, but he’s likely ticketed for a utility role. Cincinnati now has Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base to buttress the left side of the infield, which should allow some flexibility with the shortstop decision.

No matter where he plays, De La Cruz’s bat will be in the lineup. He’s been the engine of the offense the past two seasons, topping 20 homers and scoring 100+ runs in back-to-back years. De La Cruz has at least 35 stolen bases in all three of his MLB seasons, including a league-leading 67 swipes in 2024. De La Cruz has trimmed his strikeout rate in each year of his career. He hit a career-best .264 this past season.

Despite De La Cruz’s struggles, Cincinnati only had the 11th-most errors last season. They ranked 21st in fielding percentage. A full season of Hayes should boost those marks.

Reds Notes: Hays, De La Cruz, Lowder

By Anthony Franco | September 22, 2025 at 9:48pm CDT

The Reds completed a four-game sweep of the Cubs over the weekend. They’ve won five straight and pulled into a tie with the reeling Mets for the National League’s last playoff spot. Cincinnati went 4-2 against New York, meaning they have the tiebreaker. They also hold the tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks, who find themselves one game back.

Cincinnati now controls their own destiny. They’re off tonight before hosting the Pirates for three games. They finish the year with a weekend set in Milwaukee. That’s a tough series on paper, but the Brewers could have already secured home field advantage through the postseason depending on the result of their ongoing series against the Padres.

As they enter that critical stretch, the Reds are facing a potential absence from their left fielder. Austin Hays made an early exit from Saturday’s game with back spasms. He sat out yesterday’s series finale. Manager Terry Francona said on Saturday the team is hopeful that Hays will be ready for the start of the Pittsburgh series tomorrow (via the MLB.com injury tracker). The off day gives him a little extra rest.

If Hays is unable to go, Cincinnati could kick Will Benson to left field and plug Noelvi Marte in right. Pittsburgh is set to run a trio of right-handed starting pitchers — Johan Oviedo, Paul Skenes and Braxton Ashcraft — against Cincinnati. Hays hits in the middle of the lineup regardless of handedness, but he does most of his damage against left-handers.

A bigger factor for Cincinnati is getting their franchise player on track. The Reds have made their push back into the playoff picture despite a disappointing stretch from Elly De La Cruz. The switch-hitting shortstop has hit .212/.271/.315 in almost 200 trips to the plate since the beginning of August. He homered off Porter Hodge on Friday, his first longball in more than six weeks. The slump got to a point where Francona felt he needed to drop De La Cruz in the batting order. He has hit sixth or seventh over the past week after operating as the team’s #3 hitter for the entire season.

De La Cruz still has decent numbers overall. He’s up to 20 homers with a .263/.336/.436 batting line across 673 plate appearances. He’s tied for sixth in MLB with 36 stolen bases. Yet he clearly hasn’t played to his potential over the past few weeks. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic observed over the weekend that De La Cruz has played through a pair of leg injuries (quad and hamstring) while starting all but one of the team’s 156 games. He certainly won’t come out of the lineup at this stage of the season, but it’s possible he’s battling fatigue.

On the pitching side, rookie right-hander Rhett Lowder seems likely to miss the entire season. The 2023 seventh overall pick has been on the injured list all year because of forearm and oblique injuries. Lowder made a two-inning rehab appearance at Triple-A Louisville on September 13. MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon writes that he was scratched from his second scheduled rehab outing after feeling that his shoulder didn’t recover as hoped from the first.

Lowder has already undergone imaging that came back clean, but it’s yet another setback that makes it difficult to imagine him returning even if the Reds make a deep playoff run. The Triple-A season is over, so Lowder won’t get any more game action. The Wake Forest product impressed late last season, working to a 1.17 ERA through his first six MLB starts.

Krall: Reds Have Discussed Elly De La Cruz Extension, “No Talks…Currently Happening”

By Mark Polishuk | June 15, 2025 at 3:18pm CDT

During an interview on “The Front Office” on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM, Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall stated that the team had reached out to Elly De La Cruz’s camp about a long-term extension. The timing of these discussions wasn’t specified, though it can be assumed that the two sides met either this past offseason or even in the 2023-24 offseason following De La Cruz’s rookie year.

“We made a run at it and obviously didn’t get anything done,” Krall said. “We’ve had those conversations and that’s not something that we’ve been able to obviously match up on. So hopefully maybe there’s something there, but as of right now, there’s nothing, there’s no talks that are currently happening.”

De La Cruz is under team control through the 2029 season, so there isn’t any immediate need for the Reds to lock the star shortstop up. Naturally there’s plenty of benefit to both extending De La Cruz beyond those controllable years, and even in gaining some cost certainty through his arbitration years. EDLC could also gain another year of arbitration eligibility as a Super Two player, should he qualify under the next cutoff point in November. We can safely assume that De La Cruz won’t be optioned to the minors this season, so he’ll finish 2025 with two years and 118 days of MLB service time — this happens to be the exact Super Two cutoff point in 2023, though that was one of the lower numbers of the last 15 years.

Gaining Super Two status would add millions to De La Cruz’s future earnings, and only add to what will already be a pricey endeavor for the Reds in extending their young star. De La Cruz is also represented by the Boras Corporation, and most (though certainly not all) Scott Boras clients generally test free agency rather than forego the market to instead sign a long-term extension.

An unheralded international signing in 2018, De La Cruz started to turn heads as a potential future star during the 2021 minor league season, then quickly gathered attention as an elite five-tool prospect. The hype has only continued through De La Cruz’s three Major League seasons, as he has hit .261/.341/.475 with 40 home runs and a league-best 87 stolen bases over 1001 plate appearances since Opening Day 2024.

Only eight players in the sport having a higher fWAR than De La Cruz’s 8.5 number in that span, even if public defensive metrics are mixed on his shortstop ability. The Reds’ once-vaunted stockpile of infield prospects has been diminished by injuries and under-performance, but the 23-year-old De La Cruz has emerged as the clear jewel of the group, so he looks like a mainstay even if Cincinnati perhaps explores a shift to third base down the road.

De La Cruz’s modest beginnings could perhaps work in the Reds’ favor for an extension, as De La Cruz’s career earnings consist of just his $65K signing bonus in 2018 and his minimum MLB salaries of his first couple of seasons in the Show. He has been able to cash in with some high-profile endorsement deals, but De La Cruz doesn’t quite have the financial security that other prospects (i.e. high draft picks with larger signing bonuses) achieved before they even reached the majors.

This could make De La Cruz a little more open to locking in a life-changing fortune sooner rather than later, even if Boras isn’t likely to make it easy for the Reds to get any kind of hometown discount. EDLC will hit free agency entering his age-28 season, so he’ll have plenty of prime years remaining as he reaches the open market. If he happens to reach Super Two eligibility and get his first arb year this coming winter, he’ll already lock in a hefty first-time arbitration salary for 2026 based on the counting numbers he has posted in his young career. All things considered, it would seem like De La Cruz could safely bet on himself to stay healthy and keep earning big throughout his arb years, with or without a Super Two designation.

The other key question is whether or not a smaller market team like the Reds is willing to make the type of major investment it will take to extend De La Cruz. Joey Votto’s ten-year, $225MM extension from the 2012 season is the largest contract in Cincinnati history, and any long-term extension for De La Cruz will naturally far surpass that 13-year-old deal. Bobby Witt’s 11-year, $288.78MM extension with the Royals from February 2024 is a more recent comp for a young star shortstop, though given how mega-deals for Juan Soto (a Boras client) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. have raised the bar on baseball salaries just within the last seven months, Boras will surely be looking at least top the $300MM threshold.

Kansas City’s deal with Witt is a prime example of how lower-spending teams can go all in on a young star they view as the face of the franchise, so it is possible the Reds may view De La Cruz in the same light. Time will tell if De La Cruz and the Reds can find common ground on a deal, and if not, De La Cruz’s status as a forthcoming free agent (or potential trade chip) will become a major storyline in Cincinnati through the rest of the decade.

Reds Notes: Martinez, Offseason, De La Cruz

By Steve Adams | November 20, 2024 at 11:43am CDT

Nick Martinez accepted the Reds’ $21.05MM qualifying offer this week, making him the lone player of the 13 who received a QO to accept that one-year deal. The two parties talked about a potential multi-year deal before the 34-year-old righty accepted, and while talks on a multi-year deal are reportedly on hold for now, Martinez suggested that he’s still open to such an arrangement and has received no indication from the club that talks won’t pick up down the line (links via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic).

“Accepting the qualifying offer doesn’t limit us from talking, so I’m definitely still open to it if that helps mitigate costs for this year or sign more guys,” Martinez said yesterday (via Rosecrans). Via Sheldon (on BlueSky), he added: “To my understanding, [discussing a multi-year deal] is still on the table.”

Martinez’s $21.05MM salary puts the Reds right back at their 2024 payroll level, per RosterResource’s projections. Reds COO Doug Healy said last week that the 2025 payroll would be “at or above” last year’s roughly $100MM level. A $21MM salary for Martinez doesn’t leave tons of wiggle room, and the Reds haven’t divulged just how far “above” that $100MM level they’d be comfortable spending. Working out a two- or three-year deal with Martinez that might reduce his 2025 salary would give the Reds more flexibility and also allow them to further extend their control over a player who president of baseball ops Nick Krall called a “great team guy” and a “lead-by-example guy.”

Prior to the Reds’ surprise decision to tender a QO to Martinez, MLBTR had penciled Martinez in for a three-year, $39MM contract on our annual Top 50 Free Agent rankings. The Athletic’s Tim Britton offered a very similar three-year, $40MM prediction. A deal in that range could allow the Reds to trim several million off Martinez’s 2025 salary — perhaps even more, if the team is willing to backload the deal so Martinez’s salaries are greater in 2026-27, when other contracts will be coming off the books. Emilio Pagán is earning $8MM in 2025 but is a free agent at season’s end. Jeimer Candelario is signed for two more years and earning more in ’25 ($15MM) than in ’26 ($12MM).

Among the Reds’ other goals in free agency are adding a bat to the lineup, deepening the bullpen and, per Sheldon, improving the team’s overall defense. Landing a corner outfield bat has long seemed like a viable target for the Reds, with Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernández, Tyler O’Neill, Jurickson Profar, Michael Conforto and Max Kepler among the non-Soto tier of free agent possibilities. Again, bringing Martinez back at a weighty price point complicates the pursuit of such hitters, but all should sign contracts that are within reasonable proximity to the Reds’ prior free agent thresholds. Cincinnati has in the past signed both Nick Castellanos and Mike Moustakas to four-year, $64MM free agent deals, for instance. Santander will very likely command a larger guarantee than that, but the others should come in at or below (well below, for Conforto and Kepler) that type of total commitment and/or annual value.

One other area of focus for the Reds this winter will be making incremental improvements to Elly De La Cruz’s already impressive game, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer. One of the game’s most dynamic talents and still just 22 years old, the 6’5″ De La Cruz wowed with 25 homers, 67 steals and a .259/.339/.471 batting line while playing 160 games and spending every inning he was in the lineup at shortstop. Krall specifically voiced a desire to work with De La Cruz on whittling away at his 31.3% strikeout rate — a mark that’s already down a bit from his 33.7% rate as a 21-year-old in 2023.

Interestingly, Krall noted that “a lot of our guys” are in that same boat, perhaps foreshadowing one of the traits he’ll look for as he looks to bolster his lineup this winter. With regard to De La Cruz, however, both Krall and GM Brad Meador emphasized to Wittenmyer that even with a crowded infield mix and prospect Edwin Arroyo on the rise, De La Cruz is the team’s shortstop for the foreseeable future. Krall and Meador spoke of working with De La Cruz to tighten up his defense on routine plays and scale back outs made on the basepaths, though the team is surely thrilled with the overall quality of their budding star shortstop’s performance. De La Cruz is under club control for at least five more seasons and likely won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026-27 offseason.

NL Central Notes: Chourio, Pirates, De La Cruz, Cubs, Glasnow

By Mark Polishuk | December 3, 2023 at 12:55pm CDT

Jackson Chourio’s impending extension with the Brewers is expected to be made official within the next few days, and the eight-year, $82MM pact will give the 19-year-old Chourio the largest contract ever given to a (non-NPB) player prior to his big league debut. “It’s happened very quick — way quicker than I thought,” Chourio told reporter Andrew Wagner (X link) while the outfielder and agent Cesar Suarez attended a Milwaukee Bucks game yesterday, though Chourio and Suarez both stopped short of confirming an agreement was in place.

“Obviously I’m very happy that the organization believes in me and thinks so highly of me,” Chourio said. “At the same time, there’s been a lot of hard work and now I’m getting rewarded so I want to continue to [work hard] and continue to succeed with the team.”

Regarded as one of baseball’s top prospects, Chourio has looked great during his three pro seasons, though his Triple-A experience consists of only six games. The contract makes it likely but not a guarantee that Chourio will be the Brewers’ starting center fielder on Opening Day, yet even if he does need a bit more seasoning in the minors before making his big league debut, there’s no doubt Chourio is a huge part of Milwaukee’s future.

Reds Seen As Increasingly Likely To Trade Jonathan India

By Steve Adams | November 14, 2023 at 9:38am CDT

Reds second baseman Jonathan India, the 2021 National League Rookie of the Year, saw his name pop up on the rumor circuit over the summer and has already been an oft-cited trade candidate in the early stages of the offseason. Recent reports from Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Jeff Passan of ESPN do little to quell the belief that the 26-year-old could change hands this winter. Nightengale wrote over the weekend that Cincinnati is “expected” to trade India this offseason, while Passan writes this morning that the Reds have been suggesting to potential trade partners that India is the “odd man out” in their glut of infielders.

Indeed, the Reds have an enviable crop of young talent on the dirt. Beyond India, they saw former first-round pick Matt McLain, top prospect Elly De La Cruz and trade acquisitions Spencer Steer, Noelvi Marte and Christian Encarnacion-Strand all log time in the big leagues.

McLain was the most impressive of the bunch, hitting .290/.357/.507 with 16 homers and 14 steals in 403 trips to the plate. De La Cruz faded after a hot start but still posted a .235/.300/.410 line with 13 homers and a whopping 35 steals in just 98 games — all while recording intriguing batted-ball metrics per Statcast and showing off his elite speed. Steer, meanwhile, bounced between first base, second base, third base and the outfield corners while delivering a .271/.356/.464 output and 23 homers. Encarnacion-Strand (.270/.328/.477, 13 homers in 241 plate appearances) and Marte (.316/.366/.456 in 123 plate appearances) saw less time than the others but acquitted themselves nicely in their MLB debuts.

It’s an immensely talented quintet — one with plenty of defensive versatility. It seems likely that Encarnacion-Strand will settle in at first base and designated hitter, and Steer clearly enjoyed success at the plate in a nomadic, jack-of-all-trades role (even if he graded as a below-average defender at all five positions). Each of De La Cruz, Marte and McLain can handle shortstop, third base or second base. De La Cruz saw the most time at shortstop of the bunch but also posted lesser defensive grades than McLain. The Reds can tinker with the exact alignment in spring training, but regardless of who’s manning which position, it’s hard not to be bullish on Cincinnati’s emerging core of young infielders.

Given that wealth of talent, it becomes easier to see how India could be the odd man out. He’s yet to replicate his excellent showing in that aforementioned Rookie of the Year campaign, when he batted .269/.376/.459 with 21 home runs, 23 doubles, 12 steals and an 11.3% walk rate. He’s since turned in a .246/.333/.394 batting line in 960 plate appearances, showing diminished power and a walk rate about three percentage points lower than his rookie mark. Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average both cast him as a poor defender at his position.

Due to his former draft status (fifth overall in 2018), prospect pedigree and that Rookie of the Year showing, many fans have speculated that India could be used to help the Reds acquire an upgrade for the front portion of their rotation. However, given India’s struggles with the glove and (over the past two seasons) at the plate, it doesn’t seem all that likely that he’d command a strong rotation piece on his own — or even as the headliner in a package also including lesser prospects.

India is entering his first arbitration season, projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $3.7MM in 2024, and remains controllable for another three seasons. Those factors, plus his age, are perhaps the Reds’ strongest selling points in trade talks. That said, India feels more like a buy-low candidate than many onlookers might expect for someone who looked like a Reds building block just two years ago. The absolute dearth of quality infield options on the free agent market will play to the Reds’ benefit in drumming up interest, but it seems unlikely that India will fetch them a major upgrade to the starting rotation.

MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald and I discussed India’s potential trade candidacy (among many other topics) on the upcoming episode of the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, and just this past weekend MLBTR’s Nick Deeds took a look at some potential landing spots for India in the event that the Reds ultimately do move him. India placed 11th on MLBTR’s list of the top 25 offseason trade candidates just yesterday.

Corbin Carroll Wins National League Rookie Of The Year Award

By Darragh McDonald | November 13, 2023 at 5:56pm CDT

Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll has won the National League Rookie of the Year award, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced. Mets right-hander Kodai Senga came in second while Dodgers outfielder James Outman placed third.

Carroll was selected to Arizona’s roster in late August of last year, allowing him to get a taste of the majors but without exhausting his rookie status. He fared extremely well in that audition, hitting .260/.330/.500 in his first 115 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 131, indicating he was 31% better than the league average hitter in that time. The D’Backs felt confident enough in Carroll based on that showing, and his work as a minor leaguer, to give him an eight-year extension with a guarantee of $111MM.

They were hoping he would be an integral part of the club and help them make the postseason for the first time since 2017. He went on to have an incredible showing in his first full season in the majors, hitting 25 home runs and stealing 54 bases. His .285/.362/.506 line led to a 131 wRC+ and he also got strong grades for his outfield defense. He produced 6.0 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs while Baseball Reference had him at 5.4. The club did indeed break their postseason drought, snagging a Wild Card spot and eventually going all the way to the World Series.

While the award is surely thrilling for Carroll and the Snakes on its own, there are other implications of Carroll taking the trophy. The new collective bargaining agreement contains measures designed to combat service time manipulation through the prospect promotion incentive, or PPI. Top-two Rookie of the Year finishers who were Top 100 prospects on at least two preseason lists at Baseball America, ESPN and MLB Pipeline are automatically credited with a full service year. That won’t apply to Carroll, who was up all year and earned a full service year regardless, though he was the #2 prospect on all three of those lists. Gunnar Henderson, who got the AL trophy today, was #1.

But players with PPI status can also earn extra draft picks for their clubs if they have less than 60 days of service time to start the season and earn a full service year the traditional way, as Carroll did, while also appearing on those preseason prospect lists. Players in that camp who finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting or top three in Cy Young or Most Valuable Player voting during their pre-arbitration seasons earn a bonus pick after the first round for their club. That means the Diamondbacks, who are already loaded with young talent, will get a valuable extra pick in next year’s draft.

Senga also had a strong season, his first after coming over from Japan. He made 29 starts for the Mets with a 2.98 earned run average, 29.1% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. Players considered by MLB to be foreign professionals, as Senga is, aren’t eligible to earn PPI picks for their clubs. Outman also had a solid campaign, hitting 23 home runs and stealing 16 bases. He struck out in 31.9% of his plate appearances but offset that somewhat by walking at a 12% clip. His .248/.353/.437 batting line led to a wRC+ of 118 and he also graded out well in the field. He wasn’t considered a top 100 prospect coming into the year and wouldn’t have qualified for a PPI pick even if he surpassed Senga for second place.

The voting was unanimous, per the vote tally at BBWAA, with Carroll getting all 30 first-place votes. Senga got 22 second-place votes and Outman got five. Other players getting votes were Nolan Jones of the Rockies, Eury Pérez of the Marlins, Patrick Bailey of the Giants and three Reds: Matt McLain, Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Elly De La Cruz, Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for DeGrom

By Darragh McDonald | June 7, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

Episode 10 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

The promotion of Elly De La Cruz (2:05)
The demotion of Alek Manoah (9:15)
Tommy John surgery for Jacob deGrom (14:40)
Our new series highlighting the best recent trade returns on rental players (19:10)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

If Kevin Kiermaier can stay healthy and remain productive, what kind of contract is he looking at in free agency? (22:20)
Could Corbin Burnes realistically be traded by the deadline? If so, what teams would likely make a push for him? (26:50)
What could the Cubs do with Marcus Stroman? (30:45)

Check out our past episodes!

The Wide-Open NL Wild Card Race, Returning Pitchers and Cast-Off Veterans – listen here
The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
The Cardinals’ U-Turn on Willson Contreras, Mitch Keller’s breakout, and the state of the Padres – listen here

Reds Promote Elly De La Cruz

By Steve Adams | June 6, 2023 at 11:51am CDT

The Reds have called up one of the top prospects in baseball, announcing Tuesday that they’ve recalled infielder Elly De La Cruz from Triple-A Louisville. In a corresponding move, third baseman Nick Senzel is headed to the injured list with a right knee issue.

The promotion of the 21-year-old De La Cruz is the latest step in a Cincinnati youth movement that has seen the likes of Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Alexis Diaz, Graham Ashcraft, Matt McLain and Andrew Abbott make their MLB debuts over the past 14 months. De La Cruz has arguably the highest ceiling of the entire group, and his first call to the Major will continue the efforts to usher in a new era of baseball at Great American Ball Park.

Cruz offers one of the most tantalizing blends of power and speed in the sport, evidenced by this year’s 12 home runs and 11 steals in 186 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s batting .297/.398/.633 with a 14% walk rate against a 26.9% strikeout rate in Louisville and has gained increasing notoriety for his Statcast-breaking exit velocities, sprint speed and arm strength at shortstop. Statcast has pegged his sprint speed as high as 31 ft/sec at times (which would rank first in the Majors), and he drew headlines for blistering three balls with exit velocities north of 116 mph in a single game earlier this season.

The 6’5″, 200-pound De La Cruz has been primarily a shortstop in his minor league career, but Cincinnati GM Nick Krall tells Jim Bowden of The Athletic that he’ll likely play both shortstop and third base in the big leagues (Twitter link). Despite his sizable frame, De La Cruz draws strong reviews for his defensive upside at shortstop. Cincinnati currently has McLain thriving at that position, however, so the switch-hitting De La Cruz could see more frequent action at third base, where Baseball America touts him as a potential plus-plus (i.e. 70-grade) defender.

Currently, De La Cruz ranks as the game’s No. 3 prospect at Baseball America, No. 4 at MLB.com and No. 5 at FanGraphs. De La Cruz occupied the top spot on Kiley McDaniel’s midseason update to his top-50 prospects over at ESPN, joining an elite tier of 60-FV prospects alongside the likes of Eury Perez, Marcelo Mayer, Jackson Holliday, Jackson Chourio and James Wood. “De La Cruz has continued to improve his polish at the plate while also continuing to show eye-popping 70- and 80-grade tools all over the field,” McDaniel wrote as part of that ranking.

The predominant concern with the switch-hitting De La Cruz is his penchant for swinging and missing. This year’s 26.9% strikeout rate is actually his lowest full-season mark to date; he’s fanned in over 30% of his plate appearances in each of his stops at Class-A, High-A and Double-A dating back to 2021. R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports points out that De La Cruz’s contact rate against while facing left-handed pitchers this season has been just 58%, underscoring the potential for some struggles in adjusting to big league opponents.

From a service time perspective, De La Cruz is being promoted late enough in the year that he won’t have any chance at organically accruing a full year of Major League service time. That technically puts him on track for free agency following the 2029 season, although for a prospect of this caliber, it’s certainly worth noting that with a top-two finish in National League Rookie of the Year voting, De La Cruz would still be awarded a full year of MLB service time thanks to provisions stipulated in the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement. Should De La Cruz be in the Majors for good but not accrue that full year based on ROY voting, he’d accumulate 118 days of Major League service time in 2023, placing him on the cusp of Super Two status following the 2025 season.

De La Cruz’s early performance will have particular ramifications for Senzel once he’s deemed eligible to return. While a rough initial showing from De La Cruz could make it a rather straightforward call, in the event that the talented 21-year-old holds his own or seizes a spot in the same manner McLain has, Senzel’s role will become murky. The Reds moved him from center field back to third base this year and have thus far received a .258/.332/.380 batting line in 184 plate appearances. It’s not standout production but is at least solid, particularly with Senzel drawing respectable defensive grades in his return to the hot corner.

Cincinnati could opt to deploy Senzel in super-utility fashion, getting him looks at all three outfield spots in addition to third base, second base and perhaps designated hitter. But if De La Cruz hits the ground running — and arguably, even if he doesn’t — the time to get an extended look at him and McLain on the left side of the infield, opposite second baseman Jonathan India (whom the Reds have no inclination to trade), is nigh. The Reds are hopeful that said trio, along with versatile Spencer Steer and minor league slugger Christian Encarnacion-Strand, can comprise their infield of the future.

That group would leave very little in the way of regular playing time for Senzel, the former No. 2 overall draft pick and top prospect whose career has been repeatedly slowed by injuries. Senzel, who’ll turn 28 later this month, has two years of club control beyond the current season, which (speculatively speaking) could make him an intriguing trade candidate to other teams seeking MLB-ready position players. The Reds’ outfield doesn’t have this same looming influx of young talent, so it’s certainly possible that Senzel could just return to the grass on a full-time basis if De La Cruz earns a long-term look in the infield, but Senzel’s role with the club is murkier now than at any point in his still-young career.

Any such decisions are unlikely to be made in the immediate future, though, and the focus for Reds fans is surely on getting their first look at the ballyhooed De La Cruz. The great hope among a Reds fanbase that has felt jilted in the wake of yet another teardown/rebuild and repeated, poorly received public comments from team CEO Phil Castellini, is that between this wave of young infielders and starting pitchers, a return to relevance in the NL Central could happen by next year at the latest — if not as soon as this summer.

Big Hype Prospects: Cowser, De La Cruz, Rushing, Vientos, Keith

By Brad Johnson | June 5, 2023 at 6:24pm CDT

Last week’s lead Big Hype Prospect, Andrew Abbott, is already on his way to the Majors. Let’s see if we can pull the trick two weeks in a row.

Five Big Hype Prospects

Colton Cowser, 23, OF, BAL (AAA)
186 PA, 8 HR 5 SB, .347/.484/.590

When he hit the injured list with a quad injury in mid-May, Cowser was playing his way into Major League consideration. Cowser returned to action over the weekend, going a combined 4-for-5 with two walks, a double, and a homer. He’s produced multiple hits in 14 of 39 games this season. Cedric Mullins is currently sidelined with a groin injury. Although replacement center fielder Aaron Hicks has played well in his absence, underlying metrics suggest Hicks is toast. The club also has a partial opening at designated hitter which can be filled on a more permanent basis by Anthony Santander. Cowser has the athletic ability to stick in center field, but he could be a truly plus defender in the outfield corners. There’s concern he’ll struggle against left-handed pitching early in his career. At worst case, he looks like a high-probability strong-side platoon hitter. That’s why he’s creeping towards Top 10 prospect status on many lists.

Elly De La Cruz, 21, 3B/SS, CIN (AAA)
186 PA, 12 HR, 11 SB, .297/.398/.633

My recent fantasy chat included at least a half dozen questions about when De La Cruz will debut. I don’t have any special insight into the Reds thought process. The decision is complex, made even more so due to new service time and draft pick compensation rules. Role playing as the Reds, there is a certain attractiveness to following the Corbin Carroll model. As you’ll recall, Carroll debuted in late-August and performed decently in his debut. He’s now on pace to handily win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. The timing of his initial promotion ensured he would be club-controlled through 2028 (a contract extension has since further extended the Diamondbacks control). A later debut for De La Cruz would ensure he’s under control through at least 2029.

Were it up to me, he would be in the Majors tomorrow. Of all prospects in the minors, he has the least to prove. To my eyes, he’s the most physically impressive prospect since Fernando Tatis Jr. Among his most impressive traits are a 93.4-mph average exit velocity with a 118.8-mph max EV. This season, Matt Olson leads the league with a hardest-hit ball of 118.6-mph.

Dalton Rushing, 22, C, LAD (A+)
188 PA, 7 HR, 1 SB, .261/.431/.507

Rushing has followed up a wild 2022 debut with an impressive, discipline-forward performance. Defensive reviews of the left-handed hitting catching prospect skew vaguely negative. He’s a high-effort receiver who will need to work hard to polish his game. Since his bat is so advanced, a move to a corner position might be required so he can progress through the minors at a more rapid pace. The Dodgers are blessed with a number of highly regarded catchers. They can certainly afford for Rushing to play elsewhere. It might be advisable to get Rushing’s bat in Double-A before he becomes too accustomed to a 19.7 percent walk rate. Discipline is an excellent trait to possess, but it needs to be coupled with selective aggression within the strike zone.

For clarity the speculation about Rushing moving off catcher is my own based on the Dodgers inventory. I’ve not seen a scout suggest it’s necessary.

Mark Vientos, 23, DH, NYM (MLB)
(AAA) 166 PA, 13 HR, .333/.416/.688

Vientos possesses (and gets to) incredibly consistent power in-game. Although he’s only hitting .188/.206/.281 in 34 plate appearances, his exit velocities (96.1-mph average, 112.8-mph max) tell another story. Among hitters with over 30 plate appearances, only Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have tallied higher average exit velocities. While it’s in part a small sample fluke, Vientos did average 94.5-mph in Triple-A. The flaws in his game could limit his ceiling. In particular, he tends to make low-angle, pulled contact. He’s expected to be strikeout prone. He could find himself cast as a second-division starter or limited to facing certain pitcher types.

Colt Keith, 21, 3B, DET (AA)
217 PA, 10 HR, 1 SB, .321/.396/.563

Keith has built upon a breakout 2022 in High-A by doing much the same in Double-A. He’s even trimmed three points from his swinging strike rate. There’s risk he’ll continue to move down the defensive spectrum. He was being trained as a second baseman last season, but he’s made only three starts at the keystone in 2023. His bat is his carrying characteristic, fueled by plus discipline and a willingness to ambush mistakes in the zone. Wherever he winds up defensively, his bat looks like it will play in the Majors.

Three More

Bryan Woo, SEA (23): The Mariners opted to jump Woo straight from Double-A for his debut last Saturday. His performance in Double-A was masterful (44 innings, 2.05 ERA). His first start, not so much (2 IP, 7 H, 6 R). Scouts have long loved the life and shape of his fastball. His slider and changeup remain works in progress.

Chase Hampton, NYY (21): One of the top-performing pitching prospects in the minors, Hampton is beginning to draw attention from scouts. His mid-90s fastball reportedly tunnels well with a plus slider and curve. As with many young power pitchers, his changeup lags behind his other offerings. Hampton has an 18.8 percent swinging strike rate in High-A.

Luken Baker, STL (26): A former second-round draft pick, Baker experienced a breakthrough in Triple-A this season, bashing 18 home runs in 244 plate appearances. He produced a 92.8-mph average and 113.5-mph max EV. Baker made his debut as the designated hitter on Sunday.

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

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