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MLB's Tallest Young Stars Took a Photo Next to Much Shorter Infielder

Baseball players come in all shapes and sizes.

Kyle Koster

Elly De La Cruz and Oneil Cruz tower over Matt McLain
Elly De La Cruz and Oneil Cruz tower over Matt McLain / Pirates on X
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Elly De La Cruz and Oneil Cruz are two of Major League Baseball's most exciting young stars. They are also two of the very tallest with the Pirates' Cruz standing 6'7" and Reds superstar De La Cruz clocking in at 6'5". Fate brought the two together on Thursday night at PNC Park where they were joined in hanging out at second base by Cincinnati infielder Matt McLain, who is a full eight inches shorter than either of them.

It created a bit of a sight gag and the opportunity for an amusing photo was seized upon.

The official X account of Major League Baseball said the guys were being dudes.

Tall baseball players standing in the general vicinity of shorter players has become a reliable source of online amusement over the last decade. Every single time Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge have been in the same frame has been dutifully documented and preserved for future generations to study. It's very rare, though, to have two guys with the length required to be an NBA wing available to bookend a significantly smaller player in the middle.

Credit to all involved for realizing what was going on and what needed to be done.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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