Cincinnati Reds sensation Elly De La Cruz took the baseball world by storm in 2024 with his stunning speed and prodigious power. And the 23-year-old shortstop has hit the ground running in the lead-up to the 2025 regular season, crushing two home runs in his spring training debut.

On Tuesday, De La Cruz did something new Reds manager Terry Francona found hard to believe. De La Cruz was on second base and took off for third as part of a double steal. Having no shot at getting the lead runner, Colorado Rockies’ catcher Drew Romo threw to second. This allowed De La Cruz to cruise home, easily scoring standing up.

“You know [how] they say you may see something when you come to a game you never seen before? I’ve never seen that,” Francona said per Steve Stockmar of MLB.com.

“When he left third I’m like ‘no no no no … good play.’ I mean that’s as athletic and instinctual I think as you’re ever gonna see. Goodness sakes. That was incredible,” Francona added.

Reds’ star Elly De La Cruz continues to amaze

Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz steals second base against the Los Angeles Dodgers during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The veteran skipper knows when he’s seeing something special. He’s spent most of his life in professional baseball as a player, a coach and a manager. Francona came out of retirement to become the Reds manager this offseason. And he has high hopes for De La Cruz in 2025.

Last season De La Cruz announced his presence as a force in baseball. He led the majors with 67 stolen bases, hit 25 home runs and 36 doubles while scoring 105 runs for the Reds. He finished his second MLB season with 5.2 bWAR and made his first All-Star Game.

De La Cruz also added his name to the record books on multiple occasions. He became the youngest player in franchise history with four extra-base hits in a single game. He then got four more hits the following day becoming the first Reds player in 23 years with back-to-back four-hit games.

Even more impressively, De La Cruz became the first player in MLB history to steal 100 bases and hit 30 home runs over his first two seasons. The feat is all the more astounding considering he only played in 98 games during his rookie year for the Reds. After his first two seasons in the majors, De La Cruz has 102 steals and 38 homers.

And he’s picked up right where he left off last year. De La Cruz has been tearing up spring training. In nine games he’s slashing .500/.586/1.000 with three home runs, seven RBI, eight runs scored and five stolen bases, after he was credited with two steals on his epic scoring play.

Of course, De La Cruz has some things to work on. He did lead all of baseball in strikeouts last season with 218 and also had an MLB-high 29 errors at shortstop. But the future is undeniably bright for the third-year player.