Highlight-reel play a telling sign of Elly's defensive improvements

ARLINGTON -- Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has been working diligently on his throwing technique since the beginning of Spring Training -- and it shows.

It’s not hyperbole to say De La Cruz’s dazzling defensive play in Saturday’s 8-4 win over the Rangers was the fielding highlight of the season for the Reds, but manager David Bell said even that might be understating how spectacular it was.

“That had to be one of the best plays of the year in all of baseball ... and I don’t know that it’s on the radar for that because he made it look so easy,” Bell said. “If you look at who was running, the type of ball that was hit, the direction that [De La Cruz] had to go, and how much he got on the throw, and the accuracy -- you add all that together, I think it’s one of the best plays I’ve seen.”

The situation: Leading, 3-0, in the fifth inning, the Reds had two outs with Josh Smith on third base and one of the Rangers' fastest runners, Travis Jankowski, at the plate. A single would’ve surely scored a run, and the speedy Jankowski doesn’t need a line drive over the infielders’ heads to collect a hit. A slow roller to the left side would be good enough for Jankowski to beat in most cases. A left-handed hitter, his home plate-to-first base time ranks third on the Rangers over the past two seasons, according to Statcast.

Surely enough, Jankowski flared a leisurely chopper with an exit velocity of only 83.7 mph to the hole between shortstop and third base. But De La Cruz quickly got to the grounder, scooped it up and made a rushed-but-accurate sidearm throw to beat Jankowski to first by a footstep.

At only 22 years old, in his second Major League season, playing in just his 125th MLB game that night, De La Cruz has only recently added such throwing ability to his skill set, Bell said. This spring, De La Cruz worked on shortening his arm slot to enable him to make better throws.

“I think that’s helped his accuracy a lot,” Bell said. “That’s one difference from last year ... it’s just been better and easier for him to make plays because of the shortened arm slot.”

Bell added that De La Cruz still has room to grow as a fielder.

“He’s developing exactly the way we wanted him to,” Bell said. “We look so closely at how Elly’s handling the work he’s doing -- his process to keep getting better and improving, we’re thrilled.”