Elly De La Cruz is Barely Scratching Surface of Potential According to New Bat Speed Metrics

MLB released new statistical tracking of bat speed for players across the league. These new analytics give the public a greater understanding of hitting. They show just how good Elly De La Cruz has been this year for the Cincinnati Reds.

De La Cruz has hit the ball hard on a consistent basis. In fact, just 16 players have a higher average exit velocity than his 93.4 MPH. It has led to his early success, but does it tell the whole story?

Now that we have bat tracking to add to the story of De La Cruz, we can see that he is only beginning to scratch the surface. He has an average bat speed of 75 MPH. According to Statcast, a “fast swing” is 75+ MPH. Therefore we know just how hard De La Cruz swings, it is certifiably fast.

But Statcast has taken it even further than just the speed of the bat. They have a stat called Squared-Up percentage. This stat is a percentage of how much possible exit velocity a player is getting with their hits. It’s based off swing speed calculations and pitch speed velocity. It says that De La Cruz hasn't yet begun to scratch the surface of his potential.

Statcast says that a truly “Squared-Up” swing hits 80% of the possible exit velocity. Statcast also has a term called “blast” when a hit has a Fast Swing and it’s Squared-Up. De La Cruz has a Squared-Up percentage of 33.1% and a blast rate of 19.4%.

Even with a high average exit velocity, bat speed metrics show that he has not yet reached his full potential when it comes to hitting with power. This is what they mean when scouts graded De La Cruz’s power at a 70. It’s just different, and it’s going to keep evolving.

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