Elly De La Cruz has been historic this season and the Cincinnati Reds shortstop has put up some huge numbers. Both good and bad.
De La Cruz enters the final week of the 2024 season with some tremendous numbers. He's currently hitting .261, has an on-base percentage of .343, while slugging .476. He has 25 home runs, 74 RBIs and leads all of baseball with 65 stolen bases. His OPS is .819, he boasts an fWAR of 6.5 and a wRC+ of 121.
His campaign has been historic as the 22-year-old is the first shortstop in MLB history with 25 or more home runs and 65 or more stolen bases in a season. Additionally, he's only the fourth player since 2000 to register 90 or more home runs and stolen bases combined in a season. He's tied at 90 with Jose Reyes's mark from 2007, but trails only Ronald Acuna's 114 from 2023 and Shohei Ohtani's 108 this season. That's some pretty great company to be in.
De La Cruz is electric and has become a budding star, but the Reds have had to take the bad with the good as he's developed. He does lead MLB in stolen bases, but he's also tops in strikeouts (210) and errors (28).
The closest competition for the lead in strikeouts is Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar at 193, so there's very little chance he loses the strikeout crown. The MLB single-season record for strikeouts is 223, set by Mark Reynolds in 2009. The Cincinnati Reds record is Adam Dunn's 222 from 2012. De La Cruz is also on pace to become the first player to lead MLB in strikeouts and steals in the same season.
Despite the negatives, it's easy to see why De La Cruz is so exciting. His StatCast page is a really fun read. He's in the 90th percentile in average exit velocity, 89th in bat speed, 77th in hard-hit percentage, 98th in defensive range, 90th in arm strength and 100th in sprint speed. Then there are some weird takeaways. He's in the 34th percentile in xBA (.244), 25th in percentage of balls squared up, eighth percentile in whiff percentage, and fifth in strikeout percentage.
De La Cruz is a ball of contradictions, but he has a long career ahead of him to iron out his issues. His 2024 season has seen him post ridiculous numbers, both positive and negative. But he's been incredibly fun to watch the entire time.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as A Closer Look at Elly De La Cruz's Historic Numbers in 2024 Season.
