SEATTLE - We thought we have seen it all with Elly De La Cruz, but the Dominican-born surprised the whole world again with a historic game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 16, finishing the game with a career-high four stolen bases and going 4-for-4 on the plate.
The four stolen bases against the Dodgers took De La Cruz to a total of 30 in 44 games this season. According to MLB's Sarah Langs, De La Cruz is just the sixth player since 1901 with 30+ stolen bases in their team's first 44 games of a season.
The Dominican alone has more stolen bases than 18 MLB teams as a whole in 2024 and is on pace to finish the season with 110 swiped bags. The record for stolen bases for a Latino is 96, a feat accomplished by Panamanian Omar Moreno during the 1980 season.
But that's not all De La Cruz did against the Dodgers. He finished the game with four hits, a walk and three runs scored. The 22-year-old became the youngest player in more than 40 years to finish an MLB game with at least four hits and four stolen bases since Tim Raines in 1981.
De La Cruz's historic night was just what the Reds needed to bounce back from a terrible start to the month. Since May 1, the Reds have a record of 3-11 with two of those wins coming in the last three games. De La Cruz was also struggling to find his best form prior to his historic outing on Thursday. Between May 1 and May 15, "Elly" was batting for .213 with just one home run and 18 strikeouts.
Even the opposing manager had nothing but praise after watching the young Dominican. "He's that classic five-tool player," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "And there's nothing on the baseball field he can't do. You try to keep guys like that at bay, but you get caught up at times admiring the talent.
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