Elly De La Cruz , the Cincinnati Reds' superstar shortstop and first-of-many All-Star, is one of the top talents in all of baseball. He's garnering some serious respect around the league as one of the top batsmen in Major League Baseball.
MLB.com recently released its Hitter Power Rankings and De La Cruz was ranked among some of the game's best. It was the 10th edition of the rankings, and De La Cruz clocked in at ninth after not being ranked in any rankings prior.
In total, the rankings finished:
1.) Aaron Judge , New York Yankees (Prev: 1)
2.) Bobby Witt Jr. , Kansas City Royals (3)
3.) Shohei Ohtani , Los Angeles Dodgers (1)
4.) Juan Soto , New York Yankees (4)
5.) Gunnar Henderson , Baltimore Orioles (5)
6.) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. , Toronto Blue Jays (NR)
7.) Rafael Devers , Boston Red Sox (9)
8.) Jose Ramirez , Cleveland Guardians (NR)
9.) Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds (NR)
T-10.) Jarren Duran , Boston Red Sox (10)
T-10.) Ketel Marte , Arizona Diamondbacks (NR)
No other Reds received votes.
MLB.com had glowing things to say about the Reds superstar:
"At age 22, we’re witnessing the rapid maturation of De La Cruz as an offensive force. While the strikeouts remain stubbornly high, the switch-hitter has authored one of MLB’s largest drops in chase rate, and one of its largest rises in barrel rate, from 2023 to '24. Since De La Cruz hit a rough patch in May and early June, he has slashed .326/.396/.640 with nine homers and 24 steals over his past 43 games."
To be completely fair and balanced to De La Cruz and this blurb, the entire Reds lineup hit a rough spot in May and early June. However, overall, he's having a phenomenal season.
On the year as a whole, De La Cruz is batting .265/.351/.500 with an OPS+ of 133 (ninth in MLB). His wRC+ is 131, sitting around 25th in baseball. His 4.2 bWAR is sixth in the NL (fifth among position players, hello Hunter Greene 's fourth-best 5.1 bWAR).
Not to mention his ridiculous league-leading 58 stolen bases (25 more than the next). What likely holds him back is his league-leading 147 strikeouts and he's the only one of the top 11 of MLB.com's rankings to be in the top 10 in the league. Despite that, however, he's one of the best in the game.
Is it time to start an #EllyForMVP campaign? Probably not unless he can continue getting on base four times a game as he has been against the Marlins. Even then, as the EvilJoeyVotto's graphic shows, he's not far behind the MVP favorites in WAR but way ahead in Fielding Run Value and Base Running.
2024 might be a tad early for the MVP talk. Even then, he will likely garner a few down-ballot votes. He's one of baseball's best already and the Reds should do whatever they can to, 1.) keep him under contract for as long as possible and, 2.) win while he's in Cincinnati.
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