Major League Baseball

The Reds are coming, and Elly De La Cruz is leading their rookie revolution

Published Jul. 31, 2023 3:48 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES — On June 6, the first ball Elly De La Cruz put in play in his big-league debut helped to justify the near-fictitious level of hype surrounding the awe-inspiring prospect.

The towering behemoth announced his arrival with authority, scorching the hardest-hit ball of the Reds season and sprinting 30.4 feet per second out of the box — 30 feet/second is considered elite — to leg out a double. By the end of an electrifying 9-8 win against the Dodgers, capped off by a walk-off single from fellow rookie Matt McLain, Reds fans were given a reason to believe. The future had arrived.

Now, eight weeks later, Cincinnati is still buzzing. The mesmerizing play of De La Cruz, McLain and a collection of precocious rookies have lifted the Reds into first place in the National League Central. It’s the latest in a season that they’ve held the division lead since 2012.

"Everything’s about the city and the team," Joey Votto, who helped guide the Reds to their last division title 11 years ago, told FOX Sports. "It’s joyous. It’s exactly what we play for."

The 17-year veteran is a bit of an outlier on one of the youngest teams in the sport. It’s not typical that the franchise with the most major-league debuts in a season — the Reds have 12 this year — is also one of its best, but a matchup this weekend against the first-place Dodgers only furthered the optimism in Cincinnati.

Before the series began, De La Cruz donned a T-shirt that featured a picture of himself running with the caption "fastest man in the world." He then proceeded to triple in his first at-bat at Dodger Stadium, pulling a Bobby Miller changeup into the right-field corner.

As if there were any doubt about his intentions, De La Cruz gave one last glance down the line about halfway to second base before galloping forward, his monstrous strides eventually leading him headfirst into third.

"He’s a human highlight film," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I like watching the highlights much more than in real-time, first-hand … but what a special talent. It’s good for the game of baseball."

The early attack signaled what was ahead as Cincinnati took two of three games on the weekend to usurp the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead. The Reds’ top rookie position players made an impact throughout the weekend. Spencer Steer homered in the opener, while De La Cruz and McLain recorded hits in all three games.

Those three batters each boast an OPS of at least .795. If the season ended today, the Reds would be the only team in the last 16 years with three different rookies (minimum 200 plate appearances) performing at that level. As a group, the Reds’ rookie position players have accumulated a league-leading six wins above replacement this season.

As much as De La Cruz grabs the attention for his skill and stature, it is a more diminutive figure pacing the group. McLain, standing 5-foot-8, does not get recognized as often as his 6-foot-5 counterpart, but his presence in the lineup stands out. The UCLA product leads all qualified NL rookies with a .905 OPS.

How do they explain the success?

"We’re rookies, but no one really cares," McLain told FOX Sports. "You’re in the lineup, it’s not like they’re going to pitch you easier or anything because you’re a rookie. It doesn’t matter. You’ve got to win baseball games."

Since De La Cruz joined the club, they’ve done a lot of that.

The Reds were 27-33, in third place and 5.5 games back of the division lead, when their top prospect was called up. Until that moment, it was hard to envision the kind of impact a 21-year-old rookie could make. It is no longer difficult.

Cincinnati went 14-2 in its first 16 games after De La Cruz’s arrival, putting together the club’s longest win streak (12 games) since 1957 in the process. Fans took notice. Through June 5, the day before De La Cruz’s arrival, Great American Ball Park had hosted fewer than 15,000 fans 18 times. Since his call-up, the venue has attracted more than 19,000 people at every game.

The Reds’ average attendance this year (23,752) is almost 6,000 more fans than they averaged last season, good for the fifth-highest year-over-year per game attendance difference in the sport this season. Winning helps. The Reds have gone 31-16 overall since introducing their Dominican phenom to the mix.

"This team is just something else," De La Cruz said through an interpreter. "It’s something different that I haven’t experienced before. We all just have very good vibes."

With an unmatched complement of tools, De La Cruz provides fans a nightly reason to go to the ballpark.

He has not yet been a major-leaguer for two months, and he has already blasted three home runs of at least 455 feet. He is the fastest player in the sport, possessing uncanny power with his arm in the field and with his bat at the plate. On June 23, he hit for the cycle. On July 8, he stole second base, third base and home plate … in the same inning.

With a league-leading 120 steals — already twice as many as Cincinnati had last season — and an offense with the sixth-highest on-base percentage in baseball, the Reds constantly pressure their opponents. In addition to recording six walk-off wins this year, 35 of their 58 victories have occurred in comeback fashion.

De La Cruz has epitomized their badgering style of play.

"I think for me, I knew I always had that in me," De La Cruz said. "I always knew I was going to be a good baseball player."

That’s not to say it has all come easy.

As enthralling as De La Cruz can be on a baseball field, some questionable whiff and chase rates threatened to lower his floor as a prospect. Last year, he had both the third-highest batting average and the fifth-worst strikeout-to-walk ratio of any qualified player in the Reds’ system.

His ability to persevere through those faults — he cut his strikeout rate and nearly doubled his walk rate in a promotion to Triple-A Louisville this year — allowed for his call-up to the majors, but adjustments are still taking place. He had an .887 OPS in the season’s first half, then came out of the break in a 5-for-48 drought before the trip to Los Angeles. He recognized he needed to do a better job of zeroing in on the right pitches to attack. This weekend, he doubled, tripled and homered, finishing the series with a four-hit day and 6-for-14 overall.

But the rookie contributions go slightly beyond him and the position player group in Cincinnati.

The breakout star of the Reds’ pitching staff is Andrew Abbott, whose 1.90 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and .184 opponents’ batting average lead all qualified NL rookie starters. Beyond that, Brandon Williamson also put together a productive month, posting a 2.45 ERA in five July starts after holding the Dodgers to two runs in a win on Friday.

Williamson figures if everyone plays to their capabilities, age shouldn’t matter.

"Maybe that’s why we’re playing good, because we haven’t stepped back and been like, ‘Whoa, maybe we shouldn’t be doing this good?" the 25-year-old said. "It is special. It’s fun because it’s just, like, all the guys you’re playing with are in a similar boat to you. And the older guys are great to us."

Enter the Reds clubhouse, and the chemistry feels palpable.

After 26-year-old Alexis Díaz wrapped up a four-out save on Friday, 32-year-old reliever Derek Law took out his cell phone and pretended to join the media throng interviewing Díaz at his locker. Joy, of course, is more detectable in a winning environment.

But even before the victories began piling, Votto noticed a particularly strong "community feel" in this year’s group. The longtime Reds first baseman saw it in the way his teammates supported and acknowledged one another’s successes.

Now, the right amalgamation seems to be forming. Sparked by De La Cruz, an influx of young talent has the Reds climbing toward history, with the chance to become the first team ever to win a division after losing 100 games the season prior.

"We already had a good vibe going, and he just added to it," Williamson said. "He was a game-changer for us."

Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and MLB as a whole for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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