Elly De La Cruz and Playing Baseball Right

Posted: July 9, 2023 by datechguy in baseball
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One of the great young stars of Baseball is Elly De La Cruz. Not only has he already hit for the cycle in his rookie year he has helped raise a team that lost 100 games last season to first place.

Yesterday he did something that screamed Jackie Robinson, stealing 2nd, 3rd and home but most amazingly he did it on only two pitches.

I’ve watched that video a few times and while I noticed that he seems to have long legs and an athletic gait, what really struck me was the baseball sense. Let’s look at the video:

now the steal of 2nd wasn’t anything special other than the good jump but take a look at the 47 second mark of the video and check out where the 3rd baseman is when the catcher is getting up to throw.

There is nobody covering third. de La Cruz noticed this and immediately took off. Yeah the 3rd baseman right have broken for the bag if he had been ready and saw de la Cruz break. With a shorter distance he might have gotten there first and perhaps could have set himself to get a throw, but he wasn’t ready and de la Cruz saw this and took the base.

Remember this is a one run game at the time, you would think a team would be careful about these things but the Milwaukee infield was not and de la Cruz was ready to strike.

Now look at what he does once he’s there. The 3rd baseman is still nowhere near the bag and he starts down the line. at the 2:14 mark the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher who turns his back and heads back to the mound casually. The moment de la Cruz notices the pitcher isn’t watching he breaks for the plate. The pitcher turns at the 2:19 mark and rushes a throw that doesn’t have a chance.

That’s some of the most intelligent baseball I’ve seen in years. Elly de la Cruz is only 21 years old but he’s clearly one of the smartest players on that field and more importantly he’s paying attention to the game and making wise decisions.

This is exactly how this game should be played and the fans of Cincy are lucky to have that kind of player on the field. Will he develop into a Larkin or a Rose, it’s way too early to tell but for now let’s just take joy in it all.

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