De La Cruz historic sprint
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz became the first player since 1900 to record at least five home runs and five stolen bases through his team’s first 16 games. (x.com) (That mix of power and speed through a club’s opening slate is what made the stat notable in social coverage over the last 48 hours.) (x.com)
Elly De La Cruz opened the Cincinnati Reds’ first 16 games with five home runs and five stolen bases, a start no Major League player had matched since 1900. (espn.com) Through Sunday, April 12, De La Cruz had played in all 16 Reds games and was batting.281 with a.361 on-base percentage and a.563 slugging percentage. He had scored 13 runs, driven in 10 and gone 5 for 6 on stolen-base attempts. (espn.com) His weekend against the Los Angeles Angels pushed the pace into view. He homered on April 10, then went 3 for 4 with two doubles and two steals in Cincinnati’s 7-3 win on April 11. (espn.com; si.com) The combination is rare because home runs and stolen bases usually pull in opposite directions: one measures over-the-fence power, the other how often a player reaches base and runs. De La Cruz had both by Game 16 while playing shortstop every day for a Reds club that stood 9-7 entering April 14. (espn.com; espn.com) The early burst also fits the player Cincinnati has built around since his 2023 debut. De La Cruz, 24, made the National League All-Star team in 2024 and 2025 and stole at least 35 bases in each of his first three Major League seasons. (baseball-reference.com; mlb.com) Last season, he appeared in all 162 games for Cincinnati, hit 22 home runs and stole 37 bases. That made this April less a change in style than a sharper version of the same profile. (statmuse.com; fangraphs.com) Projecting April numbers across six months can mislead, and the Reds still have 146 games left. But through 16 games, De La Cruz had already produced the kind of power-speed line that usually takes much longer to assemble. (espn.com; mlb.com)
