Celly De La Cruz
Elly De La Cruz (CIN): 1-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB.
It’s been a week full of insane plays from Elly De La Cruz. He even safely removed an injured bird from the field before homering at the beginning of the month, so last night’s 1-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB line is a bit tame by his standards. That’s selling his performance short, though. Sure, only one of his batted balls allowed him to reach safely, but all three of them left the bat at 104+ mph. His walk came in the 7th inning as the Dodgers, perhaps wisely, decided they’d rather not take their chance at turning another rocket into an out. It was a reasonable decision; he’s hitting .426/.483/.907 in September with an average exit velo of 103.3 mph.
Elly is running a bit less this year, but has otherwise been everything you’d hope for in an early-round pick. He’s still a huge asset on the basepaths, running in 2.9% of his opportunities (45th in MLB) and stealing 26 bases, but we’ll probably never see a repeat of his 67 steals in 2024, and whether he gets close to 40 again like in 2025 is questionable. He’s otherwise shown consistent improvement every year he’s been in the majors. He’s chasing less than ever this year and has the highest contact rate of his career. He had consistent issues with lefties his first three years in the majors, posting a wRC+ at least 50 points worse than he did vs. righties. This season, he’s demolished lefties, hitting .344/.411/.636 against them. He’s an exceptional defender at shortstop. He’s not the best player in baseball thanks to the transcendent Pete Crow-Armstrong and two-way exploits of Shohei Ohtani, but for my money, he’s definitely the coolest player in baseball.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Wednesday…
Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC): 3-4, 3B, 2 HR, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB.
Speaking of PCA, all he did was hit homers 43 and 44 last night while adding his 8th triple of the season. The Cubs offense is absolutely on fire right now, trailing only their division rival Brewers in runs scored over the past month. Crow-Armstrong has been leading the charge, hitting .308/.379/.778 in that span with 16 homers and 7 steals. He’s made some glaring changes at the plate this year, cutting his swing rate by 10 percentage points and adding 2.3 mph of bat speed.
Alex Bregman (CHC): 3-4, 2B, 3B, HR, R, 4 RBI.
Bregman has also been white-hot down the stretch, hitting .324/.403/.704 over the past month. He was a single short of the cycle yesterday, with all of his hits leaving the bat at 100+ mph. He did overrun second base on his first-inning RBI double, getting tagged out on the bases, but it was ultimately irrelevant with the Cubs beating the Braves 8-4. Remember when Bregman had a .696 OPS and 9 homers at the break? He’s now up to an .812 OPS for the season. Combined with his still-excellent third base defense, he’s having his best season since 2019.
Ethan Salas (SDP): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Salas had a rough start to life in the majors as a 20-year-old catcher, reaching base just once in his first 17 plate appearances. He took a huge step forward last night, though, hitting the first 2 homers of his career in his first full game in Colorado. The first one was a no-doubter, a middle-middle fastball crushed at 105.8 mph to straightaway center. Salas didn’t get quite all of the second one, dropping it on top of the wall in right, but they all count the same.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (BAL): 3-4, 2 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.
Maybe Luis Robert Jr. didn’t work out for the Orioles, but they’re still batting .500 on hitter reclamation projects this year. CES hit his 10th homer in the third inning last night, an 110 mph moonshot to left. He’s now hitting .277/.326/.520 in 188 plate appearances with the Orioles. The overall plate approach is still terrifying (47.6% chase rate!), but the slug has carried him to a 135 wRC+.
Jakob Marsee (MIA): 2-3, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB.
Marsee and the Marlins took a 4-3 victory over the Diamondbacks yesterday. The biggest story in this one is a relief appearance from Sandy Alcantara two days after starting against the Diamondbacks. Do the Marlins have a grudge against the Diamondbacks or something? This is playoff-style pitching management on a team that’s 7.5 games out of a wild card spot. For Marsee, it’s been a disappointing season, mostly due to a .197/.319/.295 first half. His second half has shown what made him an exciting preseason pick, though, bouncing back to .287/.394/.482.
Gabriel Moreno (ARI): 3-4, 2B, HR, R, RBI.
Moreno was on the other side of the Marlins-Diamondbacks tilt. His homer was his second-hardest hit ball of the night at 101.1 mph; his double left the bat at 107.1. Moreno has been outstanding all season, hitting .307/.385/.485 with 15 homers and chipping in 6 steals. He’s been the best non-Liam Hicks return on draft investment, going as the 16th catcher in NFBC Main Events but producing the 4th-best season at the position.
Brandon Lowe (PIT): 2-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.
Lowe has also been a great return on his draft spot, although he’s been overshadowed by the likes of Otto Lopez and Ezequiel Duran in that metric. Lowe and the Pirates had more success than the average team does against Logan Henderson last night, with Lowe crushing a middle-in cutter out of the park to right field for his 31st homer. He’s hitting .260/.329/.484 in his first season in Pittsburgh with excellent second base defense before hitting the free agent market this winter.
Tommy Pham (CHW): 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.
I’ve gotta be honest, I had no idea Pham was still in organized baseball after departing the Mets at the end of April. He’s played 69 minor league games across three organizations, though none of them are his current team. He had two hard-hit balls last night, including a homer at 106.5 mph. The White Sox still dropped the game vs Cleveland 6-3, falling a half-game back in the AL Central title race.
Jonah Cox (SFG): 3-4, R, RBI, BB, 2 SB.
Cox is getting consistent run in the top half of the Giants’ lineup, including some appearances in the 3 and 4 spots after Rafael Devers hit the IL. Cox took advantage of hitting leadoff yesterday, with both steals coming off the Matthew Liberatore and Pedro Pagés battery. Cox had two hard-hit balls for singles and added another soft liner for a base hit in the Giants’ 6-5 victory in extra innings. His .294/.333/.445 line is entirely dependent on a .463 BABIP, but at least you can be certain he’ll get a ton of plate appearances down the stretch.
Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Ethan Kaplan (@djfreddie10.bsky.social on Blue Sky and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)
