Cincinnati Reds Elly De La Cruz is a Superstar

The Cincinnati Reds have played 97 of their 162 games this season, which means we are entering the area of sample sizes you can trust. One player that is providing nothing but upward trends is Elly De La Cruz.

He is in the All-Star Game for a reason, as De La Cruz is in the top three among NL shortstops in Wins Above Replacement. His ascension to superstardom this year is all tied to his breakout at the plate.

De La Cruz has improved in literally every metric at the plate that you can think of. 

Strikeout rate? He’s cut that down to 24.3% this year, compared to 31.3% last year.

Walk rate? That’s a less dramatic increase, but it’s still up above 10% for the first time in his career.

Even De La Cruz’s hard hit rate is up to 46.7% this year. It was 45.7% last year.

What is most impressive about his step forward at the plate is his batting average on balls in play. De La Cruz’s speed allows him to carry a higher BABIP than the league average. BABIP is a key determining number when it comes to if a hitter is getting lucky or unlucky.

Last year, De La Cruz had a BABIP of .359 with an actual batting average of .259. This year his BABIP has decreased to .345, but his batting average has jumped almost 30 points to .284!

He is making more high-quality contact at the plate and he is striking out less. That means that what we are seeing from the Reds' best player IS sustainable.

It will be a lot of fun to see how the final 65 games goes for Elly De La Cruz.