McLain was a first-round draft pick and won the National League Player of the Week during his second week in the big leagues. De La Cruz hit a ball in the gap and eased his way into third base-and then, when the relay man lobbed the ball to third, took off for home.“I was like, ‘Oh, shit, that’s sick!’” McClain remembers. Matt McLain, another Reds rookie shortstop, says he knew De La Cruz was special when they were in AA together last season. The first thing people tell you about De La Cruz is his speed. “En slow motion.” But slow motion doesn’t come naturally to the fastest man in the league. It takes De La Cruz a few times to get it right. The cameraman asks him to whip his dreads back while holding his sunglasses in place. He flexes his right arm proudly, then he looks at his left bicep and shakes his head through a wry smile. He’s built like an NBA star-more lank than bulk. Muy fuerte.” De La Cruz doesn’t seem convinced, but he plays along. “He thinks it’s too tight on him,” the agent tells the photographer. He changes into a short-sleeve tee and shoots a sideways glance at Morin. His silence is more discerning than shy.Īfter a little while, De La Cruz grows comfortable before the flashing camera. As he tosses the first few aside, it becomes clear he’s taking stock of the situation. There’s no mirror in the room, so Morin holds up his phone in selfie mode and De La Cruz assesses the options. He quietly looks over the rack of 100%-branded shirts and the table full of the glasses he’ll soon be asked to wear. No one intimidates me.”ĭe La Cruz wears all black, which accentuates his wiry build: a Phillip Plein t-shirt, PURPLE BRAND jeans with a hole in the knee, and high-tops with metal shards on the toes. I ask if he’s been intimidated by any pitcher so far. De La Cruz, who hit cleanup in his MLB debut, has seem unphased by it all. Big league pitchers hit triple digits and throw breaking balls that disappear. But De La Cruz flew through the minors and arrived in Cincinnati this June. And a middling Dominican prospect from the small town of Sabana Grande de Boyá isn’t supposed to dominate at every stop on his way to the show. The fastest guy in the league isn’t supposed to hit moonshot home runs. A young Mickey Mantle.” This is what happens when a white whale breaches. And he has the strongest arm I’ve ever seen.” Three days later, when De La Cruz hit for the cycle in his 15th career game and the Reds won their 12th straight, Votto went a step further from the post-game podium: “This is extreme, but has there been a better switch-hitting, speed-power guy? The only comp I can think of is Mickey Mantle. Two weeks after Elly De La Cruz got called up to the big leagues by the Cincinnati Reds, his All-Star teammate Joey Votto went on SportsCenter and told Scott Van Pelt: “He’s the best runner I’ve ever seen. Those legends’ brew of speed, power, and freakish hand-eye is the white whale every scout has spent life chasing since. At the time of writing, Rickey could identify only two: Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. In his 1965 book American Diamond, Branch Rickey, the Dodgers executive who signed Jackie Robinson, coined the term “the five-tool player”-these are the rarest of the rare, who can do just about everything on a baseball field.
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