On the day of making his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds, top prospect Elly De La Cruz already created damage at Great American Ball Park.
The Cincinnati Reds are in the midst of what is realistically a wide-open in the NL Central. Following the trend of teams calling up their top prospects, the Reds decided to partake. On Tuesday, the Reds called up top prospect and shortstop Elly De La Cruz to make his debut later that night at Great American Ball Park against the Los Angeles Dodgers. De La Cruz isn't just the Reds' top prospect, he's the fourth-ranked prospect in all of baseball.
Apparently, ahead of his major league debut against the Dodgers on Tuesday, De La Cruz hit a baseball to center field and it broke the protective glass in front of the benches.
Elly De La Cruz shows Reds fans how powerful of a swing he has
In his major league debut, De La Cruz went 1-for-3 at the plate, along with two walks and one strikeout. De La Cruz's one hit was a double.
One day later, De La Cruz provided further evidence that he has a powerful swing. In the bottom of the first inning, with a runner on base, De La Cruz took a 0-1 pitch from Dodgers starter Noah Syndergaard and absolutely obliterated it to the right field stands. The baseball was one row away from flying out of Great American Ball Park.
De La Cruz's home run had an exit velocity of 114.8 mph and traveled a total of 458 feet. So, now you get a better idea of how far it would take to hit a baseball out of Great American Ball Park via right field.
During his time with Triple-A Louisville this season, De La Cruz recorded a .297 batting average, a .398 on-base percentage, .633 slugging percentage, 12 home runs, 36 RBI, 38 runs scored, and 47 hits.
De La Cruz has arrived in Cincinnati, and he's already made an early statement.
