A new genius hitter has appeared in the major leagues. Eli De La Cruz (21) of the Cincinnati Reds is in the spotlight right after his major league debut.
On the 9th (Korean time), the official Major League Baseball website (MLB.com) described De La Cruz as saying, “The new genius hitter hits like a jersey, runs like a tray, and throws unlike any other player.”
In other words, it means that his hitting is comparable to that of New York Yankees’ home run king Aaron Judge, and his main focus is that of Philadelphia Phillies’ shortstop Trey Turner. It can’t be praised.
Judge, who set a new American League home run record last year, signed a mammoth-class contract with the Yankees for 9 years and 360 million dollars (approximately 464.8 billion won) and chose to remain as a free agent. Last year, Judge had a .311 batting average, .425 on-base percentage, .686 slugging percentage, and 1.111 OPS with 62 homers, 131 RBIs, 133 runs scored and 16 stolen bases. Home runs, RBIs, runs scored, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and OPS all led the American League. Again this year, Judge has a .291 batting average, .404 on-base percentage, .674 slugging percentage, and 1.078 OPS with 19 homers, 40 RBIs, 42 runs and 3 stolen bases.
Turner also hit the free agent jackpot by signing an 11-year, $300 million (approximately 387.3 billion won) contract with Philadelphia. This year’s batting average .237, on-base percentage .282, slugging percentage .389, OPS .671, 7 homers, 19 RBIs, 8 stolen bases, is not living up to expectations, but last year, when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers, batting average .298, on-base percentage .343, slugging percentage .466, OPS . 809 with 21 homers, 100 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. In 2021, he also swept three of his individual titles with a batting average of .328 and 195 hits and 32 stolen bases.
Can De La Cruz really grow into the best superstar combining Judge and Turner? Since his major league debut, De La Cruz has shown amazing results: batting average .364, on-base percentage .462, slugging percentage .909, OPS 1.371, 1 home run, 2 RBIs, 1 stolen base in 3 games.
In particular, against the LA Dodgers on the 8th, he showed a quick adaptation while reporting his first home run in his debut. At that time, the exit velocity of the home run hit by De La Cruz was 114.8 miles (185 km). Since the major leagues introduced the ‘Stat Cast’ system, he had the second-fastest batting speed among players who hit the No. 1 home run in his big league career. His all-time leading record was 115.2 miles (185 km) by Jake Berger in 2021.안전놀이터
It’s not just the power that’s great. On the same day that he hit his first home run, De La Cruz also hit his first triple, and he showed great power. De La Cruz took only 10.83 seconds to reach third base from home. He showed the fastest speed among players who hit triples this year. With the appearance of the next-generation all-around superstar, the entire major league is excited.