Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz will be unstoppable if he irons out this 1 minor flaw

Elly De La Cruz, one of the Cincinnati Reds top prospects, is on a 14-game hitting streak. During that time, the 20-year-old is hitting .350/.361/.783 with three doubles, four triples, and five home runs.

So what's not to like about De La Cruz's recent surge? Not much to be honest, but there is one stat that stands out and that's the lone walk that De La Cruz has drawn during those 60 at-bats.

De La Cruz also has 19 strikeouts over his last 14 games which amounts to a 31.1% strikeout-rate and a 1.6% walk-rate. If De La Cruz can figure out how to cut down on his strikeouts and maximize his free passes, he will be unstoppable.

Reds prospect Elly De La Cruz might be unstoppable.

Elly De La Cruz received a lot of hype prior to the 2022 season. I think a large majority of Reds fans were excited, but skeptical. After all, most of De La Cruz's success came in the Arizona Complex League and when he transitioned to Low-A Daytona, his numbers took a bit of a dip.

Still, most outlets saw star potential in De La Cruz and he found his way into the Top 100 of most evaluators prior to the 2022 season. FanGraphs tabbed De La Cruz as baseball's 59th-best prospect and MLB Pipeline has the infielder ranked 69th among their Top 100 prospects.

De La Cruz, to this point, has lived up to the hype. In 44 games for the Dayton Dragons, De La Cruz is slashing .301/.342/.602 and has 11 round trippers and 37 RBIs. At this rate, it won't be long before De La Cruz jumps to the Double-A level.

Before that happens, however, you have to assume that the Cincinnati Reds would want to promote last year's first-round pick to Triple-A. Matt McLain, a shortstop in his own right, is currently at Double-A Chattanooga. McLain is hitting .237/.350/.497.

Cincinnati may want to call up Jose Barrero to the major league roster before promoting both Elly De La Cruz and Matt McLain. The Reds have some top talent at the shortstop position, and some changes or trades may be coming in the near future.

For now, expect to see Elly De La Cruz continue to rake at High-A Dayton. As his popularity continues to grow, so will the hope throughout Reds Country.