Is Elly de la Cruz a bust?
 

I love watching his odd highlight reel play. He is a great athlete, but I'm not sure he's a major league starter right now. Can't seem to be able to make contact at the plate, isn't a great infielder in terms of percentage / errors, and is fast on the basepaths -- but not a great baserunner.

Is he a bust?

He’s 21 and played 73 games.

He is not a bust. He is a much MUCH better version of Billy Hamilton, so we need to see where his talent takes him. I don't know if you're a Reds fan, but I am. They have had true busts for prospects the last five years. Nick Senzel, Aristides Aquino, Jose Barrero, Shogo Akiyama, and the list goes on if you include pitchers. What Reds fans see with EDLC is a diamond in the rough. He has had a successful taste of MLB, and I can't wait until next year.

It is possible they move him out of shortstop, third base maybe, but he has a cannon for an arm, so it's possible they move him to the outfield. Don't forget they have a ton of shortstop top prospects that need to be called up. They will send a few of these kids to the winter complex to work on new positions to get them all into the everyday roster.

Keith Law is not a fan of Christian Encarnacion Strand. He is an Adam Dunn / Chris Davis type swinger: swing hard, swing wildly, strikeout, hit dingers. He has a near 40% chase rate. In comparison, Law states that EDLC has shown a high chase rate in each level of MiLB, but over time that number has decreased as he becomes more comfortable. That's why the Reds were comfortable promoting him earlier than Strand. Strand does not show maturity at the plate. The Reds are willing to give Elly years to develop. Crossing my fingers he will only get better. I hope they flip/trade Strand while his value is high and get better pitching. Also, Jonathan India is being shown the door this winter. I like India a lot!

Finally, the NL Central should be an exciting place to live as O'Neil Cruz in Pitt and ELDC in Cincy are both being called unicorns. I sure would love to see a Nomar vs Jeter rivalry develop.

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I think it is way to small of a sample size to claim him a bust or a unicorn or anything.
Some PLayers start out of the gate fast and fizzle out and some greats keep it going.
Some Start slow and stay slow and others pick it up.

His skills sets IMO make it look like is down side is being a steady mlb player. I do not think he will be a bust. and is upside is huge.

We will wait and see and hopefully we as fans will enjoy the ride

How could he ever be a bust? He was totally unknown until he had a huge year last year. The Reds haven’t spent any money on him and he hit his way into the line up at 21 years old.

This is a great point. De La Cruz' signing bonus was only $65K. Lot's of guys get over a Million.

So it seems like just him getting to the major leagues at 21 is already a pretty good accomplishment compared to the money they've paid him/expectations.

"Not until after the lost pandemic season of 2020 did the Reds realize they'd hit the jackpot. Between the growth spurt and a newfound appreciation for weightlifting, De La Cruz morphed from the 17-year-old who hit one home run in 186 Dominican Summer League plate appearances to the rarest sort of player: someone with three scale-breaking tools."

I think the question might be better phrased as “Is Elly De La Cruz a bust if you put a ton of money into his cards based on his Sportscenter highlights during the first month or so of his career?”

:D


As everyone else has mentioned so far, it’s way to early to say if he’s anything at this point, but the strikeouts are damn alarming, if you bought into him at the height of the hype.

I think he’s certainly more promising than O’Neil Cruz, in case anybody is asking.

It’s also good to remind yourself that somebody like Aaron Judge was still playing college and low A ball at the same age…..and wasn’t even dominating at those levels yet.

For 65K the Reds have one of the most exciting young players in the league and someone who might take the torch from Votto for the fan base. Doesn’t smell like a bust.

Did not realize the money and at those prices it is a win and an easy to give him the opportunity

Every thread needs a card. :)

https://baseball-trivia-game.com/images/delacruz.jpg

I got this one graded this summer.

Topps Now Reds team set bonus card. Lucky to get this as a bonus rather than trying to buy on eBay.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...deaec78c50.jpg

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Very thoughtful responses. I watched him play on TV and I thought that he has some amazing highlight reel moments. Reminds me of the feeling I had watching Tim Tebow with the Broncos. Fun to watch, but probably needs a lot of refinement on the fundamentals to be an infielder and a top-of-the-order hitter.

But you're right in that my questioning whether he is a bust was after I started checking out how his paper is trading on eBay.

Just yesterday, his "2022 Bowman Sterling ELLY DE LA CRUZ Auto Blue /25 PSA 10" sold for $4,760. You can buy a decent looking 1954 Hank Aaron for that price.

This is one of those cases where the price of his cards relative to his performance has led me to the perhaps unfair assertion that he might be a bust.

I wouldn't say he's a bust. He has very raw skills, and could be something special if he grows into them. He's shown flashes, of his potential at times.

He obviously has a lot to work on, but this is the time to work on it, at 21.

I predict he either will or will not be a great player. :D

Could be right on that account.

Which do a poll to see how many people agree with your point of view

It's about all you can say at this point in any major prospect's career. Obviously he has the talent, but it takes awhile to figure out if he has the plate discipline, the knowledge of the strike zone, the ability and good fortune to stay healthy, the patience to ride out the inevitable slumps, and above all else, the ability to consistently hit the breaking ball.

This sport is so much harder than other ones where it's much easier to predict success.

Personally, how you describe the growth curve, I don't think Cincinnati is a great spot for growth... and I'm a Reds fan. It's not NYY, but the front office does everything it can to rock the boat - chi, Feng Shue, etc etc - of every single player that they possess. On a hot streak? it's time to sit because a computer tells me that. Third baseman? time to play shortstop, second, leftfield, centerfield.... ROY? It's time to trade you.

It's a wonder to me that Joey Votto was able to succeed like he did when we've seen the disintegration of Reds' 5-tool and 4-tool prospects the last 5 years. This year the Reds ran everyone into the ground (tired) refusing to supplement at the trade deadline. I think Elly will succeed, but it'll be a fight every day.

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Hes a bust if you pay pwcc prices for called super refractors,,good luck with that mindset

Here he is an action helping get a 1, 4, 6, 3 put out

https://www.wpri.com/sports/sports-i...0the%20defense.

What a great highlight! I saw that and then made others watch it.

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He made it look routine but the awareness to be a back up and in the position to even have the opportunity and then the clean hard thru to get the player out