The Los Angeles Dodgers just finished up a series in Cincinnati with the Reds, and Dave Roberts saw his team drop 2 of 3 in the series. He also saw Cincinnati phenom Elly De La Cruz demonstrate his skills and remarkable athletic ability.
Dave Roberts on Elly De La Cruz this morning, courtesy of @Jack_A_Harris: pic.twitter.com/lt9Mu0MFar
— C. Trent Rosecrans (@ctrent) June 8, 2023
De La Cruz is a rookie phenom from the Dominican Republic and the No. 1 prospect in the sport. Cincinnati has become the team to watch at this point in the season, largely because of De La Cruz's spectacular skills. Some scouts have given him the eye-catching grade of 80 (on a 20-80 scale) in multiple scouting categories.
Roberts was thoroughly impressed with the 6-5, 200-pound speedster. “Managing against him, very scary. You can hear about the tools, but to see it in action is remarkable. The hit tool, the ability to control an at bat, I've been very impressed with the short sample.”
De La Cruz stroked a double and drew two walks in his debut Tuesday. De La Cruz followed up on Wednesday by hammering his first major-league home run out of Great American Ball Park:
He blasted a two-run shot 458 feet off a fastball from Los Angeles starter Noah Syndergaard in the first inning. The bomb was tracked at 114.8 mph, the hardest-hit ball by a Reds player this year.
Elly De La Cruz also tripled in that game and was timed in 10.83 seconds while running from home to third base. That's the fastest of any major leaguer this season.
Roberts is already impressed with the rookie's ability level, and De La Cruz will get a chance to show off his abilities to the Cardinals when he plays in St. Louis this weekend.
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