Elly De La Cruz brings new life to Reds organization

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There may have been 30 people inside Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday with a view of the field, including a couple of workers who were busy hosing off seats hours before the game, yet all would occasionally turn to see where the ball landed when they heard the crack of the bat.

Inside the cage, hat flipped backward a la Ken Griffey Jr. and with a left-handed swing nearly as sweet, was the hottest thing to hit baseball in quite some time. Elly De La Cruz pounded ropes into the stadium’s massive alleys and soared shots that rattled around in the outfield seats or splashed into the stadium fountains.

An hour later, De La Cruz finally walked toward the visiting dugout with a few of his Cincinnati Reds teammates.

It was 2:58 p.m. First pitch was still more than four hours away.

Rarely do players widely considered baseball's top prospect exceed expectations from Day 1. But even rarer is a talent like De La Cruz, the 21-year-old switch-hitting infielder whose first week in the major was the stuff of legend.

REDS TOP PROSPECT ELLY DE LA CRUZ'S FIRST CAREER HOME RUN LEADS TO ANNOUNCER'S ELECTRIC CALL DURING BROADCAST

In his first big league series, De La Cruz annihilated a 92 mph fastball from Noah Syndergaard, the ball landing some 458 feet away and one row from leaving Great American Ball Park entirely. In the same game against the Dodgers, the 6-foot-5 phenom went from home to third on a triple faster than anyone this season. He's even thrown a 96.6 mph laser to first base for an out.

Cincinnati Reds third baseman Elly De La Cruz (44) takes off for second base during an MLB game against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 11, 2023 at Busch Stadium in