Elly De La Cruz Is Missing From MLB’s All-Star Week, But He Could Be the Star of the Show
Why shouldn't MLB show off more of what makes its stars so great?
With Major League Baseball’s biggest names in Seattle for this week’s Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, there are still some notable snubs — including San Diego Padres teammates Fernando Tatís Jr. and Ha-Seong Kim, Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets, Matt Chapman of the Toronto Blue Jays and Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants. All those players were not invited despite ranking among the Top 25 in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) this season.
It’s a little harder to use stats to explain why Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds deserved to be there, since he ranks 246th in WAR and has played only 30 MLB games this year. But if you’ve been watching baseball since De La Cruz made his debut on June 6, you know that few players in the sport are as consistently thrilling as the 21-year-old Dominican infielder. While he’ll almost certainly be honored with a trip to the midsummer classic someday, a multi-talented player like De La Cruz could make the case for MLB to expand its All-Star offerings to showcase the range of skills that make him special.
Just take a look at De La Cruz’s Baseball Savant page — he currently ranks among baseball’s top 2 percent in three extremely fan-friendly categories that involve crushing the ball at the plate, running extremely fast and throwing really, really hard:
While De La Cruz turned down an invitation to the Home Run Derby this year, explaining that he wanted to focus on his ability to contribute to the Reds as a rookie, he is a natural fit for the competition down the line. He owns MLB’s 24th-hardest-hit homer of the season (114.8 mph off the bat against the Dodgers on June 7), one of four HRs and 15 extra-base hits he’s already compiled. And as part of hitting for the cycle in just his 15th career game, the 116.6-mph double De La Cruz rocketed to right-center field against the Atlanta Braves on June 23 was the 16th-hardest-hit ball of the season, period.
Getting a chance to watch De La Cruz send batting-practice fastballs into orbit during the Derby would be must-see TV. But why stop there? With a player like De La Cruz on hand, MLB could take a page from the NBA’s playbook and offer an All-Star Skills Challenge that also tests out players’ other tools.
For instance, despite standing 6-foot-5, De La Cruz leads all MLB players with an average peak sprint speed of 30.5 feet per second on “competitive” runs (i.e., plays where a player would be sprinting at full speed). For context, that’s 20.8 miles per hour, or a speed faster than a literal roadrunner can achieve. There’s a reason De La Cruz was able to steal second, third and home on one trip around the basepaths just a few days ago. A race for the title of Baseball’s Fastest Player would be a blast to watch — and would probably get very competitive, very quickly.
And De La Cruz also ranks ninth among all players in arm strength, with an average “competitive” throw of 94.8 mph and a maximum velocity of 97.5 mph. Compared with other infielders, De La Cruz throws 2.9 mph harder than the next-highest ranked player, Casey Schmitt of the Giants. If De La Cruz was on the mound instead of throwing to first base (and we put aside the differences between the two measurement systems), his “fastball” would rank among the top 100 for pitchers. Where would it rank among non-pitchers competing for the best arm at All-Star week? It would be fun to find out!
As it is, the HR Derby — won by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — was plenty exciting on Monday night, even if De La Cruz’s presence could have made it more interesting. And Tuesday night's All-Star Game will be worth watching for other reasons. But with a generation of players who do so many things well — and more ways to measure those things than ever before — it might be time for MLB to start thinking bigger for its summer showcase.
Filed under: Baseball