Cincinnati Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz is among the most gifted gamers MLB has to supply, and the 23-year-old’s new supervisor, Terry Francona, has lofty targets for his younger star.
“I advised him (De La Cruz) once more yesterday, ‘I would like you to be the perfect participant in baseball on the perfect workforce in baseball. That is my objective,'” Francona said Friday, in keeping with MLB.com. “And he received an enormous smile on his face.”
With blazing pace on his aspect, De La Cruz, who stands at 6-foot-5, flaunts a robust bat from the left aspect, swipes luggage at an eccentric degree and has a cannon for an arm at shortstop; he additionally made 29 begins on the scorching nook in his 2023 rookie marketing campaign.
Final season, De La Cruz totaled 25 house runs, 76 RBIs, an MLB-high 67 stolen bases and a .259/.339/.471 slash line, serving to him earn All-Star honors. Moreover, per Statcast, De La Cruz has completed within the prime 6% in MLB in most exit velocity in every of the previous two seasons and posted a 5.2 WAR in 2024.
However, De La Cruz, who made his MLB debut in 2023 and has 1,123 plate appearances underneath his belt, additionally led MLB with 218 strikeouts and 29 errors final season. Francona needs to see a extra balanced model of De La Cruz, which may very effectively include extra reps.
“With younger gamers, as they accumulate at-bats, they get to that 1,200; you see them develop,” Francona stated. “The messaging is, ‘With good younger gamers, the sport slows down, nevertheless it does not imply we play at a slower tempo.’ It simply makes it simpler to make higher choices. That is what we wish to do. … it is not simply right here, however in every single place, the nice gamers get introduced up shortly. However once you try this, you simply must be able to be slightly affected person as a result of there’s going to be some errors. They will see stuff on the Main League degree that they’ve by no means seen earlier than. That is simply a part of it.
“Typically, once you’re that ultra-talented, you’ll be able to outrun perhaps a few of your errors within the Minor Leagues that you could not essentially do right here.”
Reds’ Spencer Steer and Elly De La Cruz hit back-to-back homers to take lead over Cardinals
After stepping down as supervisor of the Cleveland Guardians in October 2023 and indicating that he was retiring from teaching altogether, Francona ended his hiatus after one yr, turning into the brand new supervisor of the workforce from the opposite aspect of Ohio, the Reds, in October; Cincinnati fired supervisor David Bell after six seasons.
The Guardians went a mixed 921-757 within the common season and 16-17 within the postseason, with 4 American League Central titles and one AL pennant, underneath Francona from 2013-23. In fact, Francona beforehand received two World Sequence (2004 and 2007) managing the Boston Red Sox from 2004-11, and he managed the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997-2000.
Francona inherits a extremely gifted Reds membership, highlighted by its younger positional core, which incorporates De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Noelvi Marte and Tyler Stephenson, amongst others. The Reds are coming off a 77-85 marketing campaign that noticed them miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season.
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