Is Elly de la Cruz a bust?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by bk400

I love watching his odd highlight reel play. He is a great athlete, but I'm not sure he's a major league starter right now. Can't seem to be able to make contact at the plate, isn't a great infielder in terms of percentage / errors, and is fast on the basepaths -- but not a great baserunner.

Is he a bust?

He is not a bust. He is a much MUCH better version of Billy Hamilton, so we need to see where his talent takes him. I don't know if you're a Reds fan, but I am. They have had true busts for prospects the last five years. Nick Senzel, Aristides Aquino, Jose Barrero, Shogo Akiyama, and the list goes on if you include pitchers. What Reds fans see with EDLC is a diamond in the rough. He has had a successful taste of MLB, and I can't wait until next year.

It is possible they move him out of shortstop, third base maybe, but he has a cannon for an arm, so it's possible they move him to the outfield. Don't forget they have a ton of shortstop top prospects that need to be called up. They will send a few of these kids to the winter complex to work on new positions to get them all into the everyday roster.

Keith Law is not a fan of Christian Encarnacion Strand. He is an Adam Dunn / Chris Davis type swinger: swing hard, swing wildly, strikeout, hit dingers. He has a near 40% chase rate. In comparison, Law states that EDLC has shown a high chase rate in each level of MiLB, but over time that number has decreased as he becomes more comfortable. That's why the Reds were comfortable promoting him earlier than Strand. Strand does not show maturity at the plate. The Reds are willing to give Elly years to develop. Crossing my fingers he will only get better. I hope they flip/trade Strand while his value is high and get better pitching. Also, Jonathan India is being shown the door this winter. I like India a lot!

Finally, the NL Central should be an exciting place to live as O'Neil Cruz in Pitt and ELDC in Cincy are both being called unicorns. I sure would love to see a Nomar vs Jeter rivalry develop.

Sent from my SM-G9900 using Tapatalk