May 2, 2024 • 9 mins
Baseball America's JJ Cooper wrote an excellent piece on the latest series of improvements we're seeing from Elly De La Cruz. Since Elly's progress and potential are our favorite things to talk about, we asked JJ to join us on ESPN1530. He said yes.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Follow on Twitter: @MoEgger
Email: mo@espn1530.com
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
That's me. It's twenty six awayfrom four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty. As much as I've enjoyedtalking about Mike Ford today, I'm going
to pivot to my favorite topic,which is Ellie de la Cruz and his
improvement with somebody that I have alwaysenjoyed having on our show, JJ Cooper
(00:22):
from Baseball America. By the way, they have updated their top one hundred
prospects list, which is going tobe a must as we get closer and
closer to the draft with the Redshaving the second overall pick. But JJ
is I think an even bigger Elliede la Cruz fan than I am,
and has done a good job ina piece I put it out there on
X. It came out yesterday sortof outlining a really important part of his
(00:46):
improvement and something we have talked abouta ton, and that's the fact that
he is he's not swinging at badpitches, and we saw him last year
there were times where it felt likehe was swinging at pitches a foot and
a half outside pitches he had nochance to hit. He laying off those
pitches, and uh, well,the proof is in the numbers. Go
read the piece Baseballamerica dot Com.Again, I put it out there on
(01:07):
social media, so it's pretty easyto access. Jj is is with us.
I appreciate the time as always,sir, how are you? How
are you? I'm doing really well. So you wrote about Ellie, you
wrote about his improvement. I wantfolks to read it. Here's what I
want to know relative to other highend prospects. And I think we're being
(01:29):
reasonable and calling Ellie a high endprospect, and you know, technically he's
no longer a prospect, but relativeto players maybe with his ceiling, how
accelerated is this level of improvement thatwe're seeing this year? Well, Kenny,
I would say it this way.Ellie's always had since if you go
(01:51):
back to kind of when he brokeout, this has always been one,
to me, one of his mostimpressive traits. Now, I think if
you look at Bobby wit Junior withthe Royals, I think you can see
some similarities there of a guy whowas a little too aggressive and then just
got better and better, you know, as kind of as he got comfortable
to the next level. And nowBobby wit Junior is one of the best
(02:13):
players in baseball. I think youcan probably put Ellie dalla Cruise in that
group already, although I know somepeople will probably say I'm saying that too
soon. But the thing that's alwaysstood out with Ellie you can't start when
anytime you were talking any about Ellie, even as in rookie ball, obviously
it's going to start with the amazingtools and how he's this you know,
(02:36):
power forward sized guy who can playshortstop, and he's as fast as any
one, and he hit the ballfarther than he one to switch it,
or he can throw the ball harderanyone. All that, right, But
then you go a little deeper,and there's always been that other aspect which
great stars have, which is hewas also the guy who was the hardest
(02:57):
worker on the team and was theguy who, like I remember asking two
three years ago, you know scoutscoaches, hey, is Elie going to
stay at short stop at that highlong term? And the thing you always
got back is how he's going toAnd he said, well why do you
say that? It's like, well, because it's really important to him.
He wants to be the shortstop andhe's going to do everything he needs to
(03:19):
do to do that. And thenyou see it now when he's conducting interviews
in English as a twenty two yearold who English is about his first language.
Well, that was always important toEllie. Ellie was always someone for
everything you hear is he's really workinghard at that. He wants to be
one of these faces, one ofthe leaders of that Reds team, and
he thinks that mastering the English languagewill help him do that and help him
(03:44):
be a better player, teammate,and you know person in the community,
you know, basically star he's aswell. And the other thing that I
also has always jumped out with thatis is Ellie was always player. He
was thego old old school. Hewas the stir straw, you know that
that straw, the straw that stirredthe drink. But in addition to that,
(04:09):
he's one of those stars who everyoneelse on the team has always enjoyed
having him on the team. Hehas those kind of soft qualities as well.
And that's why I do think you'reseeing him his improvements. He's making
both. I would say, yeknow, I focused on offensively, but
I know there are a lot ofquestions about his defense, especially early this
(04:30):
year. Again, I think hemay watched them today he made six theirs
very quickly this season, and thenI had a thrilling air last week on
the ball that the misread that everyonewas saying was one hundreds. Those his
first are since gave eleven of theseason, and so he's been making improvements
defensively as well. This is theguy who just keeps getting better. And
(04:54):
the frightening thing about that is ishe's always already really good and he's twenty
two years old. Yeah, no, well, put, I want to
ask you about defense here in asecond, but from an offensive perspective.
So we're seeing improvement in terms ofhim laying off bad pitches. What is
the next step? What is thenext area where you go, you know
what, two months from now orby the end of the season or at
(05:15):
the start of next season, here'swhat he will have mastered that he maybe
doesn't have a total grasp of thisyear right now. I would say the
most important thing that is going tobe I think the toughest one is can
he put together better right handed atmess That's that's the remaining kryptonite. Not
that he's you know, another zeroagainst the lefty, but he is better,
(05:40):
you know, he's he's just youknow, he's not one of those
switchingers right now where you would saythat he's He's the same from both sides
right and I don't know if he'llever get there, but you know,
at the same time, he's basicallyof the best hitters in baseball when he's
(06:00):
sitting left to you right now,And so that would be I'd say,
as a hitter, that's the remainingto do item. Although I do think
he's even showed improvements there as faras he's not really driving the ball's authority,
but he is putting together better atthat, So I would say that
way, Yeah, I would agreewith that. You mentioned the defense,
and he's a shortstop. He hasnever played center field as a professional baseball
(06:25):
player, and you mentioned the areas. We've also seen the brilliance. There
have been a couple of occasions thisyear, once in Seattle last week,
where I mean he basically goes fromstanding next to second base to catching a
ball down the left field not thethird base line. That the left field
foul I just covers an insane amountof ground, and so it's natural,
I think for a lot of usto go man for for as good for
(06:49):
as well as he has played atshortstop, and for as much as he
could take advantage of his immense physicaltalent playing that position. I just imagine
him going from app to gap inthe outfield and covering that much ground like
we saw in those isolated plays atshortstop. What would you say to someone
who stole dreams of him playing centerfield. I think you're tying one hand
(07:12):
behind his back. I'm not sayinghe couldn't be really good out there.
I'm not saying you couldn't, butI do think some of what makes him
so good, I mean he's you'reyou're right. Like if I if you
watch Ellie right now, a shortstop, I would say, there's no
sort of stuff in baseball you wantmore that the balls in the air,
(07:35):
a pop sly that's going to landin between the infield and the outfield.
He's the best out there going backthere because he covers more ground than anybody.
He's got that length. All thathe's not I mean, he's always
going to probably have some issues withhe's so long that there's going to be
that ball that a that are shorter, quicker or short stop might be able
(07:55):
to get to that gets by hisglove. Right. But then I do
think that gives him a little bitof time and he makes the play in
the hole, which we've seen acouple of times this year, better than
almost anybody, because no one maybeexcept for Mason Wynn, no one else
has one hundred miles an hour,you know, fireballs basically coming out of
his hand whenever he needs it,so he can make plays like that.
(08:18):
I just think Ellie day la Cruzwants to play shortstop. Short stop is
as good as seven fielders are.Short Stuff's a more important position than centerfield,
and he can do it. He'salready doing it. I just don't
see why you would move a guylike that when, like, for instance,
right now, if as much asI would say that the Reds are
(08:41):
more filled with infielders than everyone's healthythan outfielders, if human Belli de la
Cruz's off some short stop with who'shealthy right now, you're going to take
a bigger hit putting in center fieldthan you are putting the center fielders they
have out there, and putting Eliede Lacruz a shortstop. And I think
long term that's going to always bethe case. It's just harder to find
(09:01):
short stuff that can do what hecan do in center heelers. JJ Cooper,
editor in chief Baseball America, hispiece on Ellie de la Cruz.
I'm looking at it right now.You can read it at baseballamerica dot com.
I've sent out a link, andwhile you're at it, check out
their updated list of top one hundredprospects for twenty twenty four. As we
get closer and closer to the Draft. I always love having you on man.
(09:22):
I do appreciate the time. Thankyou as always, no problem,
JJ Cooper, Baseball America. Goread the piece. It is really good.
It's easy to look at the numbers, and it's easy to look at
the highlights that go viral. JJAdoes a very good job of diving into
the ins and outs of LA seasonand how he has improved. All right,
(09:45):
Ross Smith MLS season, past AppleTV next. Hey, it's my
That's me. It's twenty six awayfrom four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty. As much as I've enjoyedtalking about Mike Ford today, I'm going
to pivot to my favorite topic,which is Ellie de la Cruz and his
improvement with somebody that I have alwaysenjoyed having on our show, JJ Cooper
(00:22):
from Baseball America. By the way, they have updated their top one hundred
prospects list, which is going tobe a must as we get closer and
closer to the draft with the Redshaving the second overall pick. But JJ
is I think an even bigger Elliede la Cruz fan than I am,
and has done a good job ina piece I put it out there on
X. It came out yesterday sortof outlining a really important part of his
(00:46):
improvement and something we have talked abouta ton, and that's the fact that
he is he's not swinging at badpitches, and we saw him last year
there were times where it felt likehe was swinging at pitches a foot and
a half outside pitches he had nochance to hit. He laying off those
pitches, and uh, well,the proof is in the numbers. Go
read the piece Baseballamerica dot Com.Again, I put it out there on
(01:07):
social media, so it's pretty easyto access. Jj is is with us.
I appreciate the time as always,sir, how are you? How
are you? I'm doing really well. So you wrote about Ellie, you
wrote about his improvement. I wantfolks to read it. Here's what I
want to know relative to other highend prospects. And I think we're being
(01:29):
reasonable and calling Ellie a high endprospect, and you know, technically he's
no longer a prospect, but relativeto players maybe with his ceiling, how
accelerated is this level of improvement thatwe're seeing this year? Well, Kenny,
I would say it this way.Ellie's always had since if you go
(01:51):
back to kind of when he brokeout, this has always been one,
to me, one of his mostimpressive traits. Now, I think if
you look at Bobby wit Junior withthe Royals, I think you can see
some similarities there of a guy whowas a little too aggressive and then just
got better and better, you know, as kind of as he got comfortable
to the next level. And nowBobby wit Junior is one of the best
(02:13):
players in baseball. I think youcan probably put Ellie dalla Cruise in that
group already, although I know somepeople will probably say I'm saying that too
soon. But the thing that's alwaysstood out with Ellie you can't start when
anytime you were talking any about Ellie, even as in rookie ball, obviously
it's going to start with the amazingtools and how he's this you know,
(02:36):
power forward sized guy who can playshortstop, and he's as fast as any
one, and he hit the ballfarther than he one to switch it,
or he can throw the ball harderanyone. All that, right, But
then you go a little deeper,and there's always been that other aspect which
great stars have, which is hewas also the guy who was the hardest
(02:57):
worker on the team and was theguy who, like I remember asking two
three years ago, you know scoutscoaches, hey, is Elie going to
stay at short stop at that highlong term? And the thing you always
got back is how he's going toAnd he said, well why do you
say that? It's like, well, because it's really important to him.
He wants to be the shortstop andhe's going to do everything he needs to
(03:19):
do to do that. And thenyou see it now when he's conducting interviews
in English as a twenty two yearold who English is about his first language.
Well, that was always important toEllie. Ellie was always someone for
everything you hear is he's really workinghard at that. He wants to be
one of these faces, one ofthe leaders of that Reds team, and
he thinks that mastering the English languagewill help him do that and help him
(03:44):
be a better player, teammate,and you know person in the community,
you know, basically star he's aswell. And the other thing that I
also has always jumped out with thatis is Ellie was always player. He
was thego old old school. Hewas the stir straw, you know that
that straw, the straw that stirredthe drink. But in addition to that,
(04:09):
he's one of those stars who everyoneelse on the team has always enjoyed
having him on the team. Hehas those kind of soft qualities as well.
And that's why I do think you'reseeing him his improvements. He's making
both. I would say, yeknow, I focused on offensively, but
I know there are a lot ofquestions about his defense, especially early this
(04:30):
year. Again, I think hemay watched them today he made six theirs
very quickly this season, and thenI had a thrilling air last week on
the ball that the misread that everyonewas saying was one hundreds. Those his
first are since gave eleven of theseason, and so he's been making improvements
defensively as well. This is theguy who just keeps getting better. And
(04:54):
the frightening thing about that is ishe's always already really good and he's twenty
two years old. Yeah, no, well, put, I want to
ask you about defense here in asecond, but from an offensive perspective.
So we're seeing improvement in terms ofhim laying off bad pitches. What is
the next step? What is thenext area where you go, you know
what, two months from now orby the end of the season or at
(05:15):
the start of next season, here'swhat he will have mastered that he maybe
doesn't have a total grasp of thisyear right now. I would say the
most important thing that is going tobe I think the toughest one is can
he put together better right handed atmess That's that's the remaining kryptonite. Not
that he's you know, another zeroagainst the lefty, but he is better,
(05:40):
you know, he's he's just youknow, he's not one of those
switchingers right now where you would saythat he's He's the same from both sides
right and I don't know if he'llever get there, but you know,
at the same time, he's basicallyof the best hitters in baseball when he's
(06:00):
sitting left to you right now,And so that would be I'd say,
as a hitter, that's the remainingto do item. Although I do think
he's even showed improvements there as faras he's not really driving the ball's authority,
but he is putting together better atthat, So I would say that
way, Yeah, I would agreewith that. You mentioned the defense,
and he's a shortstop. He hasnever played center field as a professional baseball
(06:25):
player, and you mentioned the areas. We've also seen the brilliance. There
have been a couple of occasions thisyear, once in Seattle last week,
where I mean he basically goes fromstanding next to second base to catching a
ball down the left field not thethird base line. That the left field
foul I just covers an insane amountof ground, and so it's natural,
I think for a lot of usto go man for for as good for
(06:49):
as well as he has played atshortstop, and for as much as he
could take advantage of his immense physicaltalent playing that position. I just imagine
him going from app to gap inthe outfield and covering that much ground like
we saw in those isolated plays atshortstop. What would you say to someone
who stole dreams of him playing centerfield. I think you're tying one hand
(07:12):
behind his back. I'm not sayinghe couldn't be really good out there.
I'm not saying you couldn't, butI do think some of what makes him
so good, I mean he's you'reyou're right. Like if I if you
watch Ellie right now, a shortstop, I would say, there's no
sort of stuff in baseball you wantmore that the balls in the air,
(07:35):
a pop sly that's going to landin between the infield and the outfield.
He's the best out there going backthere because he covers more ground than anybody.
He's got that length. All thathe's not I mean, he's always
going to probably have some issues withhe's so long that there's going to be
that ball that a that are shorter, quicker or short stop might be able
(07:55):
to get to that gets by hisglove. Right. But then I do
think that gives him a little bitof time and he makes the play in
the hole, which we've seen acouple of times this year, better than
almost anybody, because no one maybeexcept for Mason Wynn, no one else
has one hundred miles an hour,you know, fireballs basically coming out of
his hand whenever he needs it,so he can make plays like that.
(08:18):
I just think Ellie day la Cruzwants to play shortstop. Short stop is
as good as seven fielders are.Short Stuff's a more important position than centerfield,
and he can do it. He'salready doing it. I just don't
see why you would move a guylike that when, like, for instance,
right now, if as much asI would say that the Reds are
(08:41):
more filled with infielders than everyone's healthythan outfielders, if human Belli de la
Cruz's off some short stop with who'shealthy right now, you're going to take
a bigger hit putting in center fieldthan you are putting the center fielders they
have out there, and putting Eliede Lacruz a shortstop. And I think
long term that's going to always bethe case. It's just harder to find
(09:01):
short stuff that can do what hecan do in center heelers. JJ Cooper,
editor in chief Baseball America, hispiece on Ellie de la Cruz.
I'm looking at it right now.You can read it at baseballamerica dot com.
I've sent out a link, andwhile you're at it, check out
their updated list of top one hundredprospects for twenty twenty four. As we
get closer and closer to the Draft. I always love having you on man.
(09:22):
I do appreciate the time. Thankyou as always, no problem,
JJ Cooper, Baseball America. Goread the piece. It is really good.
It's easy to look at the numbers, and it's easy to look at
the highlights that go viral. JJAdoes a very good job of diving into
the ins and outs of LA seasonand how he has improved. All right,
(09:45):
Ross Smith MLS season, past AppleTV next. Hey, it's my
Mo Egger News
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