We’ve been telling you for a number of weeks that it’s time to take note of the Cincinnati Reds.
Definitely the truth that the Reds are profitable once more — they entered Friday evening’s recreation in opposition to the Atlanta Braves 1.5 video games up within the NL Central and driving an 11-game profitable streak — is an enormous assist. However greater than the rest, the Reds are enjoyable. Joey Votto is again, having introduced his return from a shoulder harm in unbelievable trend earlier than belting a homer and a go-ahead hit in his first recreation again.
One more reason you ought to be paying consideration? Their youth. They’ve the 2021 NL Rookie of the Yr in Jonathan India, a younger nearer in Alexis Diaz, and sure, they’ve Elly De La Cruz, the power-hitting, lightning-fast phenom now we have additionally advised you about.
De La Cruz made his debut again on June 6, hit his first house run the very subsequent evening, and has been must-watch since getting referred to as up. And on Friday evening, De La Cruz turned the youngest participant in over 50 years to perform one in all baseball’s rarest feats.
Hitting for the cycle.
De La Cruz first got here to the plate within the backside of the second, with the Reds already trailing 5-0. However he received the inning began doing what he does so effectively: Hitting the ball extraordinarily onerous and utilizing his velocity to his benefit:
Jake Fraley, the subsequent hitter to come back to the plate, homered to chop Atlanta’s result in 5-2.
De La Cruz would come to the plate the next inning, with a runner on and two outs. Cincinnati was nonetheless trailing 5-2.
However not for lengthy:
The rookie jumped on a first-pitch breaking ball, and deposited it within the right-field bleachers for a two-run shot, his third of the season. All of a sudden it was a one-run recreation.
De La Cruz singled within the backside of the fifth, scoring a run to make it 7-6 Atlanta. When he got here to the plate subsequent, within the backside of the sixth inning, India was one base and the Reds have been within the lead.
And he wanted a triple to finish his cycle, and along with his velocity, he was considering three the second he made contact:
As famous by ESPN De La Cruz turned the youngest participant to hit for the cycle since 1972. He can be the third-youngest participant in MLB historical past to perform the feat:
Earliest profession cycles, AL/NL since 1901
Cliff Heathcote, 1918, sixth profession recreation
Gary Ward, 1980, 14th profession recreation
Elly De La Cruz, 2023, fifteenth profession recreation https://t.co/Xol9ncFE6X— Adam Darowski (@baseballtwit) June 24, 2023
Including to his cycle is that this:
Elly De La Cruz is the primary participant within the World Sequence Period (since 1903) to file 20 hits, 5 stolen bases and three HR in a participant’s first 15 profession video games. pic.twitter.com/YbqXULaXsW
— ESPN Stats & Information (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 23, 2023
Cincinnati at present leads Atlanta 11-7 within the prime of the eighth, and there’s a probability that the Braves come again and win this recreation. Though, with the best way Diaz has held issues down within the nearer’s position this 12 months, odds are that the Reds do go on to win.
However no matter tonight’s consequence, the Reds are profitable, they’re enjoyable, they usually have a history-making phenom in De La Cruz.
Word: The Reds did maintain on for the win, 11-10, as Diaz recorded his twenty first save of the season. Additionally observe that it’s Friday evening, I counted incorrect, and this was his fifteenth recreation, not his 14th. Apologies everybody. Doesn’t change the truth that it’s nonetheless insanely fast in his profession.
