‘It all started with Elly’: How the Reds plan to win big around MLB’s most exciting player
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
When Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz burst onto the scene a season ago, his every move became an instant highlight reel. He helped reenergize a fan base starving for a winner by displaying a rare combination of power and speed while making Reds games must-see TV in the process.
After all, who else can lead the league in sprint speed, hit a ball 119.2 mph and throw it 97.9 mph across the infield?
But for all the sizzle that came with a debut season that vaulted the Reds into postseason contention, De La Cruz’s final numbers — a .235/.300/.410 slash line — didn’t quite live up to the hype and his team finished two games out of the National League’s final playoff spot.
“We were one game away the final weekend,” second baseman Jonathan India said. “It stung us. We could have been the Diamondbacks. It sat with me all offseason. I hate losing more than I like winning.”
This year, the focus in Cincinnati is about turning all of that flash into results that will have the Reds playing postseason baseball for the first time since 2020 — and it, of course, begins with their budding superstar.
“It definitely got more intense and lively when we started winning,” outfielder Spencer Steer said. “It all started with Elly getting called up and running off 12 straight. It just shows that the town wants a winning baseball team. They deserve one. It’s been a while.
After an offseason of hard work, which included time spent honing his hitting with former major leaguer Fernando Tatis Sr., De La Cruz is providing star level production for a team with the NL’s fifth-best record. Sure, he’ll still show up on the “SportsCenter” Top 10 plenty this season, but what has the Reds excited is his early showing at the plate.
In 23 games, De La Cruz has a .313/.412/.651 slash line that adds up to the fourth-best OPS in MLB at 1.063. Perhaps most encouraging is that he has managed to cut his strikeout rate and nearly double his walk rate while not sacrificing that game-changing combination of power and speed — and all of this has come just months after his 22nd birthday.
“Way, way, way ahead of probably 99 percent of players his age that have had the experience level that he has,” Reds manager David Bell said. “It’s incredible what he’s doing.
“He’s going to be developing for years to come and for him to handle himself the way he does — with a lot of attention — we couldn’t be happier. And what he’s doing every day to get better.”
Instead of trying to change De La Cruz’s approach to rush the process, the club cited time and experience as his major needs and encouraged him to continue being himself in his development. They saw a player willing to learn and weren’t surprised when he connected with Tatis Sr. on his own in a search for some guidance.
Tatis has worked with players in the past, most notably reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., and it’s his simple message that De La Cruz credits for his early production at the plate.
“Be in control,” De La Cruz said. “Control yourself. He gave me a lot of advice. I learned a lot from him.”
De La Cruz indicated he wants to make the strike zone “a little smaller” for the opposing pitcher, and in the early going, he has reduced his strikeout-to-walk rate in half from his debut season.
“He’s worked so hard this spring,” India said. “He wants to be consistent. He wants to be a superstar. He has that ability. We all see that.”
But for the Reds to finish the season where they want to, they know that it’s about getting performance from the players around De La Cruz as well, something the organization opened its wallets to address this offseason while also leaning into the exciting play of their young core to sell veterans on coming to Cincinnati.
“The whole city was on fire for this team. They play hard. It’s fast, physical baseball. It was very evident the city was falling in love with this team.” reliever Brent Suter said. “I told my wife … this was already No. 1 on my free agent list and now it’s by far No. 1. This is a fun team. It was very evident from the other side, the bond kept getting stronger and stronger there.”
Keeping that close knit feeling while integrating veteran additions starts with De La Cruz’s running mate on the left side of the infield. The biggest splash of Cincinnati’s winter came when Jeimer Candelario joined the Reds on a three-year, $45 million contract. The third baseman is a ready-made mentor in a young clubhouse as a former top prospect who finally came into his own the past few seasons — and has made connecting with De La Cruz a priority.
“He likes to listen,” Candelario said. “He’s a learner. You have to give him time. Playing every single day in the big leagues is going to allow him to get better.”
That mix of needing time to mature while also being counted on to perform at the highest level is a common feeling in a Reds clubhouse that features three players who finished in the top seven of NL Rookie of the Year voting a season ago — with Steer and Matt McLain joining De La Cruz.
“We’re not afraid to make mistakes,” Steer said. “We’re going to go out and play fearlessly.”
That mindset energized the franchise at the major league level a year ago, fueled the front office during the offseason and if the player who most embodies it — Elly De La Cruz — produces, could have the Reds playing into October.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The San Diego Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, the teams announced Saturday.
The Padres also received nearly $7.9 million in cash considerations, leaving them responsible only for the major league minimum salary for Arraez.
The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations in November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins’ teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-25 with a minus-61 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres’ front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport’s best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 17-18 with a plus-6 run differential.
“It’s really amazing — that guy is a baller,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said about Arraez after the Padres’ win Friday night. “He’s probably the closest to Tony Gwynn right now, so looking forward to seeing him in our lineup. … The guy’s a pure hitter, and I can’t wait for him to help us.”
Miami is paying San Diego $7,898,602 of the $8,491,398 remaining for the final 149 days of Arraez’s $10.6 million salary. That left his cost to the Padres at $592,796 — exactly a prorated share of the $740,000 minimum.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the past two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
“When a guy like that is taken out of the lineup or potentially traded, you feel it, because he’s such a good kid and one of the leaders in that clubhouse,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “so there’s definitely a shock value.”
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA across 12⅓ innings after failing to make the Padres’ bullpen out of spring training.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old center fielder is batting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-Class A.
Martorella is batting .294 with an .820 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, has spent the season in San Antonio batting .185 with two home runs. He was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Central Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday morning for the first time since being shut down in mid-March, checking off another box in his road back from an elbow injury.
Cole took the mound in the Yankees’ bullpen at 10:40 a.m., hours before New York took on the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. He said he threw 15 pitches, 13 for strikes and all fastballs. He said the pitches averaged 89 mph.
“It was exciting,” Cole said. “This was a good day for me. I was fired up.”
Cole, 33, started the season on the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow following one spring training outing. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is eligible to come off the injured list May 27, but the Yankees have declined to share a timetable for Cole’s return.
On a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being game ready — Cole reported he is “somewhere between 1 and 5.” He said how his body responds over the next 48 hours will decide when he throws off a mound again.
Cole’s injury was a significant blow to a club with championship-or-bust aspirations, but the Yankees’ starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors and a primary reason for the team’s 21-13 start. The rotation’s 3.43 ERA through Friday ranked ninth in the majors. Its 183⅔ innings pitched ranked fourth.
Luis Gil, Cole’s rotation replacement, logged the best start of his young career Wednesday, holding the explosive Baltimore Orioles scoreless on two hits over a career-high 6⅓ innings. Gil, 25, has recorded a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings across six starts despite leading the American League with 20 walks.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said neither the team’s nor the rotation’s success will impact Cole’s timeline. Asked whether the overall success has made his absence more “palatable,” Cole was unsure.
“I don’t really have anything unpalatable to compare it to,” Cole said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just kind of like, just like everybody else, just glad we’re playing well.”
Also on Saturday, the Yankees reinstated infielder Jon Berti from the 10-day injured list and designated former first-round pick Taylor Trammell for assignment.
Berti, 34, has been out of the Yankees’ lineup since April 10 with a left groin strain. The Yankees had selected Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18, and he collected 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 runs in five games with New York.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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