There's nobody playing ball like Elly De La Cruz right now. These stats paint the full picture of the Cincinnati Reds star's brilliance.
The Cincinnati Reds are hotter than the sun, rocketing from well below .500 to first place in the NL Central in a matter of weeks. While no single player can get all the credit for that kind of turnaround, there's certainly one player getting the bulk of the praise in Cincy: rookie sensation Elly De La Cruz.
Elly De La Cruz has set the major leagues on fire. It's hard to imagine a more impressive start to a career. He's slapping the ball all over the field, legging out extra bases at every opportunity, and making plenty of showy plays at shortstop. He's a true five-tool player.
The stats prove it.
Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz is the ultimate five-tool player
For posterity, the five tools are: hitting, power, running, fielding, and throwing. All five are important to your average positional player. All five are objective strengths of De La Cruz.
It's far too early in the 21-year-old's career to call him the "best" at anything, but the list of MLB players who can combine power (three moonshot homers), contact (.301 average), speed (nine stolen bases in 20 games), glove dexterity, and arm velocity like De La Cruz is extremely short.
He may very well be the best pure athlete in the sport, bar none. He's 6-foot-5 with the power to win the home run derby and the speed to compete in Olympic track and field. The superstar label isn't far off given De La Cruz's evident ability to blend his eye-popping power and speed with functional skill in the field and at the plate. He's not just a highlight machine; he's getting on base and making the simple plays too.
De La Cruz has already won the entire Reds fandom over. Probably the entire MLB fandom, for that matter. He's the perfect star for the modern age — endlessly fun without sacrificing straight-up analytical, statistical dominance.
He hit for the cycle last week roughly one month into his career. That's not normal. The Reds continue to stack wins and De La Cruz continues to contribute all over the box score. He is also extremely confident in his abilities, which bodes well for his chances of long-term success. You can't reach stardom without self-belief, and De La Cruz has no shortage of it.
The Rookie of the Year contender is just getting started. Cincinnati fans are in for a fun next few years of baseball.