How Elly De La Cruz crushing lefties is making it even harder for opposing managers

AL EastBlue JaysOriolesRaysRed SoxYankeesAL CentralGuardiansRoyalsTigersTwinsWhite SoxAL WestAngelsAstrosAthleticsMarinersRangersNL EastBravesMarlinsMetsNationalsPhilliesNL CentralBrewersCardinalsCubsPiratesRedsNL WestDiamondbacksDodgersGiantsPadresRockiesScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsThe Windup NewsletterFantasyMLB ProspectsMLB OddsMLB PicksPower RankingsFans Speak UpTop ProspectsMLB Season De La Cruz has hit four of his six home runs this season as a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitching. Katie Stratman / Imagn Images Share articleLos Angeles Angels left-handed reliever Brent Suter knew coming into Great American Ball Park earlier this month that he would face Elly De La Cruz at least once during the team’s three-game series. Suter spent the last two seasons in the home bullpen at GABP, where the veteran watched how opposing teams planned their bullpen usage around one member of the Cincinnati Reds, their prolific switch-hitting shortstop. The Reds’ 24-year-old superstar, as all of the baseball world now knows, has one of the most exciting skill sets in the sport, a true five-tool player who can impact the game in multiple ways. But if there has been a Kryptonite in his young career, it’s been left-handed pitching, or more precisely, his at-bats as a right-handed hitter. Instead of relying just on what he’d seen for two years, Suter studied this year’s version of De La Cruz before facing him for the first time as an opponent. “His right-handed swing is looking good,” Suter said. “He’s a threat on both sides — he always has been — but like, it’s improving very quickly on the right-hand side.” Suter gave up a bloop double to De La Cruz — one that would be a single for most, but De La Cruz dropped the ball into shallow right and hustled into second base for a double. Suter fared the best of the Angels’ three left-handed relievers against De La Cruz. De La Cruz homered off of both Drew Pomeranz and Mitch Farris, going 3-for-3 against lefties in the series. “I feel really good, really comfortable,” De La Cruz said last week about his right-handed swing. “I’m working in the zone and I’m feeling very comfortable.” Following Monday’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, De La Cruz has hit four of his six home runs this season as a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitching. Before 2026, just 13 of his 60 career home runs were from the right side. The Rays start lefty Steven Matz on Tuesday opposite the Reds’ Chase Burns. No longer is De La Cruz walking up to the right-handed batter’s box a welcome sight for opposing teams. De La Cruz has a 1.099 OPS as a right-handed hitter entering Tuesday and a .738 as a left-handed hitter. That’s the opposite of what he’d done in his first three seasons in the big leagues. From De La Cruz’s debut in 2023 through the 2025 season, he had an .848 OPS left-handed and .606 right-handed. “I think he’s a little shorter to the ball — he’s so long-levered to begin with that it allows him to make better swing decisions,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “I think confidence plays a big part. I know you hear me say it a lot, but it’s true. Just because you can’t quantify something doesn’t mean it’s not real.” It’s not that De La Cruz was not confident as a right-handed hitter. “I’m always confident,” he said. But other teams may be losing confidence in handling him right-handed. This spring, the Reds had three split-squad days. In two of the three split squads, the Reds faced a right-hander in one game and a lefty in another. Both times, De La Cruz asked Francona to put him on the roster facing a lefty. Of De La Cruz’s 56 plate appearances in the Cactus League, 22 were right-handed and he had an OPS of 1.153 with five extra-base hits, including two homers. He had a higher average from the left side, but lower on-base and slugging for a .887 OPS and two home runs. “Three years in the big leagues, to be superstar caliber like that at such a young age is really impressive,” Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika said. “It takes time. We’re all guilty of it; everybody’s in a rush — they want to see power, they want to see the special things these guys can do. But there’s no level higher, you know? The guys on the mound drive nice cars, too. It’s not like you have easy at-bats, everybody’s throwing 95-plus. Everybody’s got nasty, wipeout stuff. For him to be doing that and continuing to grow at this level is really impressive.” There are mechanical adjustments De La Cruz has made, Valaika said, but so much of the improvement comes from the approach. Physically, Valaika said De La Cruz has been able to keep his lead leg in the air longer because it is his dominant side, which allows him to adjust to pitches more quickly. But being ready to attack those pitches — and doing so earlier in the count — has helped him improve as a right-handed hitter. “You’re seeing him be more aggressive early in the counts,” Valaika said. “He’s been on fastballs on those counts, and I’m sure as the season progresses, they’ll start spinning him and pitching him like they do left-handed. In the time being, he’s been ready to go from pitch one. I think he’s in a consistently good position with it.” Francona put right-handed rookie Sal Stewart behind De La Cruz in the lineup, in part because Stewart’s advanced approach at the plate and the three-batter minimum rule could force opposing managers to choose between letting a right-handed De La Cruz face a lefty and then having to face Stewart and Eugenio Suárez, or rolling the dice on facing De La Cruz left-handed and keeping in the right-hander to face Stewart and Suárez. The way De La Cruz’s been swinging the bat from the right side, it could mean that it’s no longer a fait accompli that when a reliever comes out of the bullpen to face him, it’ll be a lefty. “I think it’s coming to that,” Suter said. “He’s trending that way, for sure. No matter who you throw out there, he’s going to give you a good at-bat, he’s going to get some good swings off. He’s a special player.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms