Elly De La Cruz

Elly De La Cruz

23-Year-Old ShortstopSS
Cincinnati Reds
2025 Fantasy Outlook
De La Cruz silenced his doubters with an All-Star season at age 22, smacking 25 homers with a league-leading 67 stolen bases. He struck out 17 times in his first 33 at-bats to begin the campaign, but De La Cruz quickly found his groove at the plate and would go on to finish as the No. 5 hitter in rotisserie leagues behind Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt and Jose Ramirez. In the end, De La Cruz cut a couple points off his strikeout rate, but it was still something of an eyesore at 31.3 percent. He's shown that he can offset the whiffs with walks and all of his other flashy tools, both on offense and defense, where he shined by standard and advanced fielding metrics. Surprisingly, De La Cruz was better on the road (126 wRC+) than at home (110 wRC+), which leaves open the question of what he's capable of when he really gets rolling at Great American Ball Park. Beware that his plate discipline profile leaves him open to batting-average variance. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#4
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Reds in March of 2024.
Swats fourth spring homer
SSCincinnati Reds
March 21, 2025
De La Cruz went 2-for-3 with a walk, a two-run home run and an additional run scored in Thursday's spring game against the Royals.
ANALYSIS
De La Cruz mashed a two-run, opposite-field home run in the first inning and followed it up with a five-pitch walk and a hard-hit single. The De La Cruz of previous years may have tried to take another bag after the ball trickled into short center field, but he stayed at first base and eventually came around to score on an Austin Hays double. The home run was De La Cruz's fourth this spring.
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Batting Stats
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2025
2024
2023
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2024 MLB Game Log
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2023 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+41%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+33%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+61%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .600 339 34 8 26 33 .209 .280 .320
Since 2023vs Right .846 788 140 30 94 69 .267 .344 .502
2025vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025vs Right .833 4 2 0 0 0 .333 .500 .333
2024vs Left .661 217 22 6 20 23 .224 .307 .354
2024vs Right .876 479 83 19 56 44 .275 .353 .523
2023vs Left .495 122 12 2 6 10 .184 .231 .263
2023vs Right .799 305 55 11 38 25 .255 .328 .471
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+9%
OPS on Road
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+3%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+22%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .737 544 79 17 51 41 .236 .317 .419
Since 2023Away .804 583 95 21 69 61 .263 .332 .472
2025Home .833 4 2 0 0 0 .333 .500 .333
2025Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Home .796 337 51 12 38 29 .257 .336 .460
2024Away .822 359 54 13 38 38 .261 .341 .481
2023Home .636 203 26 5 13 12 .199 .282 .354
2023Away .776 224 41 8 31 23 .266 .317 .459
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Elly De La Cruz compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
1.00
 
BB Rate
25.0%
 
K Rate
25.0%
 
BABIP
.500
 
ISO
.000
 
AVG
.333
 
OBP
.500
 
SLG
.333
 
OPS
.833
 
wOBA
.395
 
Exit Velocity
98.0 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
0.0%
 
Barrels/PA
0.0%
 
Expected BA
.376
 
Expected SLG
.431
 
Sprint Speed
0.0 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
50.0%
 
Line Drive %
50.0%
 
Fly Ball %
0.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
2022
De La Cruz took the baseball world by storm upon his arrival to the major leagues. He immediately flashed the incredible power/speed combo that made him a top prospect and hit for the cycle in just his 15th career game, helping spark the Reds to a 12-game winning streak in June. Eventually things went south for both player and team, though De La Cruz showed once again that speed doesn't slump with 18 steals in his final 50 games despite hitting just .199/.285/.361 during that stretch and falling to the bottom of the batting order. Overall, De La Cruz hit 25 homers and stole 46 bases in 136 games between Triple-A and the big leagues at the age of 21. There are swing-and-miss issues that he'll need to address and he may not reach his true potential for a while yet, but the loud tools combined with regular playing time in a band box park make it tempting to overlook his flaws. The downside potential is he ends up back in the minors after a prolonged slump.
There are better prospects than De La Cruz, but there might not be a more visually captivating prospect. He looks and moves differently than 99.9% of baseball players. It's as if 6-foot Ronald Acuna and 6-foot-8 Oneil Cruz met in the middle at 6-foot-5. De La Cruz can hit 500-foot homers and post 70-grade run times. He is dripping with athleticism and in no danger of adding too much weight in the coming years to compromise his speed and actions. So why isn't he the No. 1 prospect? Scouts are still torn on the hit tool. He logged a 30.8 K% and 7.8 BB% as a 20-year-old (age appropriate) at High-A and Double-A. The switch-hitting shortstop really struggles with pitch recognition, and if a pitcher doesn't throw him a fastball, the pitcher will probably win the at-bat. Even so, De La Cruz is turning 21 in January, so he could spend the entire 2023 season in the upper levels of the minors and still be on track. If he doesn't improve against offspeed pitches, De La Cruz could be a low-AVG, low-OBP power/speed threat, and the sky is the limit if he is able to make the necessary improvements at the dish.
De La Cruz is the "it" prospect of the offseason. He is in that alluring stage of his development where the upside and the risk are obvious to all observers. The 6-foot-2 switch-hitting shortstop hit .296/.336/.539 with eight home runs and 10 steals in 61 games as a 19-year-old in the Florida Complex League and at Low-A. He had a 30.2 K% and a 5.3 BB%, which would be a concerning set of plate skills for any prospect at any level. However, evaluators who saw him in person rave about his physical tools (70-grade raw power, 70-grade speed) and the hard-hit and batted-ball data has left remote analysts similarly excited. How he is valued in dynasty leagues comes down to risk tolerance. He might have a wider range of outcomes this season than any other hitting prospect in the game.
More Fantasy News
Homers twice in spring debut
SSCincinnati Reds
February 22, 2025
De La Cruz went 2-for-2 with two solo home runs in Saturday's split-squad game against the Guardians.
ANALYSIS
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Tweaks batting stance
SSCincinnati Reds
February 17, 2025
De La Cruz has tweaked his batting stance in hopes that it will help him cut down on strikeouts, Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard reports.
ANALYSIS
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Focused on reducing strikeouts
SSCincinnati Reds
February 15, 2025
De La Cruz said Friday that he wants to cut down on strikeouts this season, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Two thefts in 2024 finale
SSCincinnati Reds
September 29, 2024
De La Cruz went 1-for-5 with a two-RBI triple and two stolen bases during Sunday's 3-0 win over the Cubs in 10 innings.
ANALYSIS
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Baserunning blunder in loss
SSCincinnati Reds
September 28, 2024
De La Cruz went 1-for-4 with a double in Friday's 1-0 loss to the Cubs.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Extension not expected
SSCincinnati Reds
May 22, 2024
De La Cruz isn't likely to reach a long-term extension with the Reds, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
ANALYSIS
The 22-year-old is one of the most exciting players in baseball with nine homers and 30 steals through 48 games, putting him on pace to top 100 thefts for the season. De La Cruz doesn't yet have a full MLB season under his belt, and the low-spending Reds seem unlikely to dish out for a long-term deal in the near future.
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