3 Reds prospects who will be called up by the All-Star break and who they'll replace

2. Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz will replace Nick Senzel.

The time has come for Elly De La Cruz to make his major league debut. Slowed by an injury during spring training, De La Cruz has just begun his 2023 campaign with the Louisville Bats. Once he shakes off the rust, it's only a matter of time before De La Cruz makes his way to the bigs.

De La Cruz is the most exciting young player in the Cincinnati farm system. The 21-year-old has five-tool talent that includes huge pop fron both sides of the plate, game-changing speed, and a cannon for a right arm.

Elly De La Cruz has Reds fans dreaming for what might be. The only hangup in De La Cruz's game to this point has been his 30-plus percent strikeout-rate. The sooner De La Cruz gets that number down to say 23-percent, the sooner he'll be in The Show.

Now, who will De La Cruz replace? That's a great question. I'm banking on the fact that we won't see De La Cruz until closer to mid-June or early-July. With that in mind, look for Nick Senzel to be sacrificial lamb once De La Cruz makes his debut.

Does this mean De La Cruz will be playing center field? No, not necessarily, though there's certainly merit to the idea. While Senzel is a former first-round pick, he's been given so many chance to find success at the major league-level and has never capitalized on them.

Nick Senzel has gotten off to a poor start once again. By the time De La Cruz is ready for the major leagues, Senzel may have run out of chances. The Cincinnati Reds maintain the ability to option Senzel to the minors, but they may decide to cut bait with the former No. 2 overall pick and designate him for assignment.