We are now in full swing on this series and this week another repeat of sorts as once again we’re looking about Elly De La Cruz. If Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have taught us anything it’s that everyone loves the long ball. Perhaps that wasn’t exactly the takeaway from those two guys, but long home runs have been something people have talked about for over a hundred years. Only in the last decade or so, though, have we truly been able to measure their distance with *some* accuracy. Thanks to ball tracking in the big leagues we can compare 1-to-1 how far a baseball went. Every week for the next few months we’re going to be counting down the 10 longest home runs hit by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2025 season.
On March 31st Elly De La Cruz hit the 8th longest home run of the Cincinnati Reds season as they took on the Texas Rangers.
The Video
The Metrics Behind The Blast
This home run came in the 7th inning and Elly De La Cruz had already gone 3-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle.
Distance Metrics
Distance: 436 Feet
Reds Ranks: 8th
Major League Baseball Rank: 279th (tied)
Elly De La Cruz Rank: 4
Other Metrics
Launch Angle: 29°
Exit Velocity: 110.2 MPH
Bat Speed: 81.6 MPH
Reds Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 10th (out of 167)
Reds Bat Speed Rank (home runs only): 2nd (of 157)
MLB Exit Velocity Rank (home runs only): 497th (out of 5544)
MLB Bat Speed Rank (home runs only): 280th (out of 5288)
The Story Behind The Blast
This game was the best one of the season for Elly De La Cruz. His home run in the 7th inning was his second of the game and it was his 4th hit of the day. He finished 4-5 with a double, two home runs, four runs scored, a steal, and he drove in seven runs.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning he hit a 418-foot home run off of Kumar Rocker as he turned a 3-0 Reds lead into a 6-0 lead. Five innings later Cincinnati was up 12-0 and Texas had Gerson Garabito on the mound. De La Cruz had doubled off of him the previous inning.
The count was evened up at 1-1. Gerson tried to get a 94 MPH fastball by De La Cruz. He came inside with it, and it caught the inside corner of the plate, but it was belt high and the Reds shortstop got around on it with ease. The ball sailed deep beyond the wall in center and slammed off of the batters eye as the home team extended their lead to 14 runs.
This was just the 4th game of the year for the Reds. It was a day of firsts for De La Cruz, though. He picked up his first double, first and second home runs of the season, and he stole his first bag of the year. And he did it all in front of a paltry crowd of 10,533 fans who braved a cold night to see Brady Singer give up one hit in seven innings and De La Cruz clobber the baseball all game long.
You can follow along the entire series here.
Well, these 465 ft are around 100 ft beyond the wall…pretty far…
Imagine if it had been 85 degrees instead of 45 that night. Ball would be in orbit.
Or floating downriver in the Ohio
Definitively in NOLA by now. Possibly sitting on a beach with a tall, cool drink in the Caribbean.
Such an easy swing. Here’s hoping his quad is fully healed and we see much more of that action (and all the rest from him) in 2026.
I am hoping he rehabs the quad and builds up some strength, so he doesn’t fade so badly in 2026. It was so amazing watching him through June and to see him just fall off so much is completely understandable considering he was playing injured.
Still think that was so dumb on his part and on the team for letting him do it.
I’d like to see Elly concentrate on pitch recognition and become a consistent three hundred hitter; home runs will follow. With Elly’s speed, he can distract the pitcher and make things happen for the Reds.
Jay Bruce has such easy power it was crazy. This swing and especially the sound is like that.
Elly reminds me of Eric Davis, in that his power is generated by his great bat speed.
The easiest most powerful swing I have witnessed was George Foster. He seemed to just flick the bat out and absolutely crush the ball. I was once in leftfield seats. Hr flicked his wrists and I was disappointed as I figured a routine fly out to end the inning. The ball just keep getting bigger and ended up hitting the seats two rows behind me. Sounded like a gun went off when it hit.
George Foster for Frank Duffy should have been a felony.
The statute of limitations is long gone on this one. I even looked it up!
I’d forgotten who they traded for Foster. The Giants had Bobby Bonds in his prime at that time, with Garry Maddux on his way to replacing an aging Mays. Ken Henderson played LF in 1971, and Gary (the Sarge Matthews) was on his way. So, I suppose that they thought Foster was an extra outfielder.
Foster, FWIW, didn’t become “George Foster” until 1975 at age 26. He had an OPS+ of 97 with the Reds through his age 25 season, then the power showed up, and he had an OPS+ of 149 over the next 7 seasons.
He then went free agent to the Mets, where he aged out pretty quickly. The 1970s were the good old days, because you could heavily rely on other teams making real bad personnel decisions.
At the time, the Giants had a bunch of young, talented outfielders. Garry Maddox, Dave Kingman (eh?), etc.
George was not seen as on of the top level talents (he was also incredibly shy then), and the Giants didn’t see a future for him. The Reds needed a real CF, as Bobby Tolan was hurt all of 1971.
When Tolan came back in 1972, George rode the pines for most of 1972, and didn’t hit well at all. So he started 1973 at AAA.
It really took until 1974 for George to really arrive. He spend a lot of 1973 at AAA level. The last month of ’73 he was called up, and was crushing the ball; he should have been called up a few days sooner and been on the playoff roster against the Mets (Kooseman and Matlack left handers).
I think me and Old Big Ed posted about simultaneously, there.
Bottom line, in 1971, the Giants didn’t think much of George Foster as a big prospect in the Majors. So he was easy to get from them.
Maybe a lesson on giving up on minor leaguers too soon. It took George a couple of years to really catch up to ML pitching.
I think i remember it being said Foster has very, very strong wrists/hands.
It always amazes me when players that are so lean can generate such great power.
I suppose Elly fits that description.
Short term memory loss is a terrible thing … MK’s post above just commented on Foster’s wrists. Knew i’d read it somewhere!
George had an amazing physique, which he worked at developing. He ran every day. He had broad shoulder and powerful arms, yet he had a wasp-waist (thin there).
In my opinion, he was the Reds’ MVP in 1976, although Joe Morgan (a truly great player) won the award for the NL. George seemed to always get key rbi hits in close games..
Foster was second in the MVP balloting in 1976; third in the strike/lockout shortened season of 1981.
Gaylord Perry was rumored to be responsible for the Giants trading Foster. He was hard on young players, particularly if they made an error while he was pitching and there are stories of Perry being very unhappy with Foster. Foster later went 5-5 against him while playing for the Reds after the trade. Thank you Gaylord Perry!
I once heard that George Foster’s wrists were incredibly strong and helped him with a quick bat so that he could hit 52 HR in ’77.
😉 Gotcha DaveCT.
PTBNL, seems I’ve read that somewhere.