When you watch the video and see Elly De La Cruz come flashing out from the right side of your screen, it looks like there's no way he can make it. But doubt the Reds five-tool superstar at your own peril.
De La Cruz made a stupendous catch in the eighth inning of the Reds' 1-0 loss to the Rangers at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday afternoon, traversing a huge expanse of open space -- 119 feet to be exact -- before sliding feet-first to pluck a towering Leody Taveras pop fly off the foul territory warning track. De La Cruz reached an impressive 28.3 feet/second sprint speed before making the sprawling back-handed grab, well above the MLB average of 27 feet/second.
De La Cruz's athleticism is no secret, but seeing it up close on a daily basis is different, even for a baseball lifer like new Reds manager Terry Francona.
¡°The guys had kind of told me when I came here, ¡®He¡¯ll go to those balls like nobody you¡¯ve ever seen,¡¯¡± Francona said after Wednesday's game. ¡°They weren¡¯t lying. It was pretty impressive.¡±
Gavin Lux, also getting his first daily dose of De La Cruz after arriving in an offseason trade from the Dodgers, put it succinctly: ¡°There is certain stuff that he can do that no one else can do.¡±