Major League Baseball

Top Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz has a new fan: Jack Harlow

Updated Jun. 3, 2023 1:55 p.m. ET

The Cincinnati Reds may enter Saturday five games below .500, but the biggest question on the minds of Reds fans has less to do with the players on the current big league squad and more to do with when top prospect Elly De La Cruz will join them in the majors. In the meantime, though, one celebrity is enjoying getting an in-person glimpse of De La Cruz in the minor leagues — rapper Jack Harlow.

De La Cruz is currently showing off his incredible skill set for the Reds' Triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats, where he has a 1.037 OPS and 12 home runs so far this season — several of them no-doubt longballs that leave Louisville fans in awe. Those fans include Harlow, a Louisville native, who saw De La Cruz hit one of those home runs recently.

Harlow's video shows De La Cruz's power on full display, as the shortstop's opposite-field blast landed near the scoreboard with his face on it in left-center field. As you can see, Harlow's entourage was understandably very impressed by the blast.

The rapper is just one of the first baseball fans to get a closer look at De La Cruz's incredible baseball ability which currently makes him the No. 4 ranked prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline. De La Cruz hits baseballs that spring off his bat at above 115 mph, sprints to first base out of the batter's box at a pace of over 30 feet per second, and throws to first base from shortstop with a velocity of nearly 100 mph. There is no clear opening for De La Cruz in the Reds' infield currently, but the 21-year-old Dominican phenom may be close to forcing the team's hand.

Regardless of when De La Cruz makes his big league debut, Harlow can say he got a first-class look at the Reds' newest would-be savior before few others did.