Elly De La Cruz had himself a good day on Thursday. Early in the afternoon he was named to the 2022 Futures Game along with Andrew Abbott as the two Cincinnati Reds representatives. That was just a snack for what was going to come later on. De La Cruz played in both games of a Dayton Dragons doubleheader and he went 4-6 with a walk, a stolen base, and he hit three home runs.
In the first game of the doubleheader, Elly De La Cruz homered from both sides of the plate and hit them both near the concession stand out in left field. In game two he homered the other way into right field from the right side of the plate. That home run also appeared to have knocked a fan out after the ball hit him in the head. While it’s not shown in the video below, the man did sit back up shortly after he was struck and lurched over to the ground.
After the big night, Elly De La Cruz is now hitting .302/.357/.597 with 13 doubles, 6 triples, 18 home runs, and he has 26 stolen bases in 30 attempts on the season. He’s among the Top 5 in the Midwest League in runs hits, triples, home runs, RBI, steals, average, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Javi Rivera named Pitcher of the Month
The Florida State League announced that Javi Rivera was named as the Pitcher of the Month for June. The right-handed pitcher was dominant for Daytona, pitching in five games and allowing just one earned run over 18.2 innings. That’s a 0.48 ERA for those of you keeping track at home. Rivera allowed just eight hits and walked just three batters while striking out 24 during the month. His WHIP was 0.59. Opponents managed to hit just .127/.179/.206 against him during that stretch.
Cincinnati selected Javi Rivera with their 20th round pick in last years draft. It was their final pick, taking him out of Florida Atlantic where he posted a 4.83 ERA in 78.1 innings. He didn’t pitch in any professional games last year. This season he’s spent the entire year with the Tortugas down in Florida and after his outstanding month of June, he’s got a 2.76 ERA in 58.2 innings this season to go along with just four home runs allowed out of 43 hits, he’s walked just 11 batters, and he’s picked up 70 strikeouts along the way.