It’s time to admit it: I’ve run out of new ways to describe Elly De La Cruz. As I tweeted last night – I’m just in awe of what he does every night. Tuesday night was another one of those nights.
Louisville was trailing 4-3 entering the 9th inning. The Bats had just one hit on the night. Elly De La Cruz was 0-2 with two walks and two steals on the night. Nick Martini singled with one out, giving the Bats their second hit of the game. That brought De La Cruz to the plate. He worked a full count against Kaleb Ort before fouling off an 86 MPH slider. The next pitch he saw was a 98 MPH fastball up in the zone and De La Cruz did not miss it.
The ball may have come in at 98, but it left at 109.2 MPH and it landed an estimated 432 feet away. It was his first walk-off home run in Triple-A, but not his first walk-off. Earlier this season he had a walk-off walk for the Bats.
The home run also gave the Cincinnati Reds top prospect his first hit of the game. That extended his hitting streak to 10 games. After beginning the season 1-21 without a walk and with 11 strikeouts, the 21-year-old shortstop has gone absolutely wild on the International League. He’s had 141 plate appearances since then and he’s hit .350/.454/.761 with 22 walks, 32 strikeouts, nine doubles, three triples, 11 home runs, and he’s stolen 10 bases.
During the month of May he’s walked 20 times. Prior to this month he had only walked 10 or more times in two months during his career, with August of last year being the best when he had 12 walks. This month he’s walked in 11 different games. All 20 of his walks in May have come in the last 18 games.
After the game on Tuesday night, even despite the incredibly tough start to the season, Elly De La Cruz is hitting .304/.401/.659 this season for Louisville. He’s got 24 extra-base hits in 33 games plate. He’s walking more than he’s striking out over the last three plus weeks. If you are wondering what else he has to prove in the minor leagues you aren’t the only one.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand is a’walkin
While we’ve covered the change in Elly De La Cruz and his walk rate many times over the last few weeks, it’s been sort of the opposite coverage for Christian Encarnacion-Strand. He’s been absolutely crushing the ball since he was activated from the injured list in late April. But what he hasn’t been doing is walk. He’s never really walked much in his career – always hitting well despite that.
Still, while he’s put up staggering hitting numbers, you would like to see him walk a little more often because in the big leagues pitchers can execute their stuff and location more consistently and being a little more patient at the plate can go a long way.
After being acquired at the trade deadline last year, Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked twice in his debut with the Reds organization. He didn’t walk twice in a game again until this past Friday – a span of 63 games. He had walked just seven times in 273 plate appearances between those two games. But that 2-walk game seemed to kick off a little something for the 23-year-old. He walked the next night. Then again the next night. After having an off day on Monday, he walked twice on Tuesday night.
In the last four games he’s walked six times in 20 plate appearances. He had walked just nine times in his previous 278 plate appearances dating back to his first game with the Reds organization. Much like Elly De La Cruz – walking more, and perhaps striking out a little less often seemed to be that last and final step from an offensive standpoint that you could potentially point to as a “what else does he need to do in order to be ready for the big leagues”. Unlike De La Cruz, he hasn’t been doing it quite as long. Is this a blip on the radar against some pitchers having a bad couple of days in a row, or is this a real step forward as something’s clicked? Time will tell, but he’s done something in the last four games – draw a walk in all of them – that he’s never done before as a professional.
Hector Rodriguez extends his hitting streak
It took until his third at-bat of the day, but on Tuesday evening Hector Rodriguez picked up a hit for the 12th straight game with a 2-run single for Daytona. During that stretch he’s 18-51 with three doubles, three triples, and a home run. He’s hitting .353/.389/.588 over those 12 games. It’s just a continuation of his May where he’s hitting .366/.404/.613. That’s a strong rebound after posting a .679 OPS in April.