Reds Beat: Elly De La Cruz Striving To ‘Keep It Simple’ At The Plate, In The Field

CINCINNATI — Elly De La Cruz continues to work on all aspects of his game.

The 22-year-old hit safely in the last five games of 2023 and has at least one hit in the first six contests of 2024, giving him officially a 11-game hitting streak heading into Friday’s opener with the Mets.

His double in the fourth inning just inside the third base bag extended the run to 12 games.

De La Cruz has yet to homer in 2024 but he does have two doubles, a triple and three singles. He has one hit in each of his first six games and had a great at-bat Wednesday in the eighth inning that drove home Cincinnati’s fourth run in a 4-1 win over the Phillies.

Even though he does have 12 strikeouts in 25 plate appearances, that plate discipline he was striving to refine coming into this season is starting to show, albeit slowly.

“He’s working on it. For sure. Yeah, it’s really trying to keep it simple,” Reds manager David Bell told me. “Being ready to hit you know from pitch one, not giving the pitcher too much credit because he wants to pick the right pitches to hit.

“It’s interesting, like the psychology of that is actually you have to be more aggressive. You have to be really ready to hit from so that when you get your pitch you’re able to not miss it or be able to put it in place. So that’s all part of his growth. And he’s definitely working hard and listening and learning every day.”

Like with all young hitters, even those as gifted with raw ability like De La Cruz, there is the need to stay patient, both from his perspective and from the outside.

“So I think he’s right on track,” Bell continued. “I mean, he doesn’t have a ton of at-bats really in his career, and it’s easy for people to, and for Elly himself to want to get there as quick as he can and that’s good. That’s what the attitude you need. But as long as he’s growing every day, and that’s all that matters.”

Hitting isn’t the only area for Elly to grow. His game on Tuesday night is one he’d of course like to forget. Three fielding miscues, two of which went for errors. Before Friday’s game, he was with Jeimer Candelario working on his fielding off a machine.

A cut for the cause:

Reds reliever Tejay Antone had enough of his long hair. What to do? On his off-day Thursday, the site Locks of Love gave him an idea. That’s the organization that takes donated hair of at least 10 inches and makes wigs and hairpieces for needy children.

“In all honesty, I was kind of getting tired of it,” Antone said. “It was getting stuck to my neck and during when I was pitching and it just kind of bothered me so I wanted to cut it off. And I just was like, ‘Oh, I kind of have a lot of hair like I wonder if I could donate instead of just throw it in the trash.’ Looked up Locks of Love. That was like the first website I had thought of. Saw they had a 10-inch donation minimum and had one of the athletic trainers help me measure it and he was like, ‘Yeah, I think you’ve got it.’

“So it took a little bit longer to cut down because I have to do sections at a time to make sure it was like 10 inches all the way across. But yeah, just wanted to make sure didn’t go in the trash and maybe someone could use it.

“I did not grow specifically for this. I just wanted a haircut and I was going to throw it in the trash and was just like ‘Yeah, this is kind of a cool thing to do.’ And so I wanted to make sure I could donate it. It was like right at 10 inches. So the sides were really good. I did want to leave a little bit on the top. It’s for styling, and those might be a little close, but I put it all together and all looks good to me.”

Antone hadn’t cut his hair this dramatically since 2021, his second season with the Reds. In his first two seasons, 2020-21, he fanned 87 batters and walked just 29 in 69 innings. He was a flame-thrower then, before his second Tommy John surgery, pitching to a 0.957 WHIP.

“You go through Tommy John two times just wanted a life change,” Antone said. “If you saw I had braids at one point and then I got called up when I was about to go get my braids redone. And when I came back last year, my hair was long. So I was like, ‘Okay, well, we’ll rock this for a little bit.’ And now both of those chapters in my life are over. So we’re back to 2021 TJ, and hopefully the play on the field shows it.”

While Antone’s donation was a beautiful thing, he had another adjective for the look of the Reds bullpen so far.

“Our relievers are disgusting,” Antone said in the highest praise possile. “So just being able to be a part of that bullpen and, and compete with them is very meaningful. I always always joked around and said if I was the worst person on the team that I think would be pretty good. And it’s funny because I think we’re pretty close to that. So, our bullpen is really, really good.

“At any point, anyone can be pitching which is a lot of fun. Being on your toes out there again and just being able to come in at the end of the game and and try to help us close the door.”

Alexis Diaz honored:

Alexis Diaz was recognized before Friday’s game as the 2023 Johnny Vander Meer winner, awarded annually to the most outstanding Cincinnati pitcher. Diaz posted 37 saves in 40 chances to go with a 9-6 record and a 3.07 ERA in 71 appearances in 2023, earning his first trip to the All-Star Game. Diaz’s brother Edwin – an all-star in his own right – came over before the game to be part of the photo op ceremony, which also included David Bell.

Another Machine loss:

First it was Don Gullett on Feb. 14. Then Bill Plummer nearly a month later on March 12. Then on Thursday, another member of the 1976 World Series champions passed away as 1976 NL Rookie of the Year Pat Zachary died after a long illness. The news was first broken by his former catcher Johnny Bench on Thursday. The Mets later confirmed that he passed in his hometown of Waco, Texas.

It’s sadly ironic his passing comes a day before the Reds open a 3-game set with the Mets, as he was, of course, part of the 1977 blockbuster with Steve Henderson, Doug Flynn and Dan Norman that sent Tom Seaver to Cincinnati.

Zachary was injured and lost his wife Sharron in a single-car accident in Nov. 2016.