{"id":58728,"date":"2023-06-09T19:00:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T23:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=58728"},"modified":"2023-06-09T11:16:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T15:16:23","slug":"elly-de-la-cruz-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/06\/09\/elly-de-la-cruz-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elly De La Cruz Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 18th, Elly De La Cruz<\/a> was a few days away from being activated off the minor league Injured List, and starting his season in Triple-A Louisville. At the same time, the Cincinnati Reds<\/a> were breaking a franchise record. On the night of the 18th, while hosting the first of a three game series against the league\u2019s best Tampa Bay Rays, Great American Ballpark saw history. Most of the time, when referring to records, we think of them in a positive manner. This couldn\u2019t be farther from it that evening. A paid attendance of just 7,375 was the smallest crowd<\/a> in the history of the ballpark since opening back in 2003.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fast forward a little less than two months later, and the vibe around the city has completely flipped. 24,323 just filled into the stadium on a Thursday day game. The entire three-game series vs the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> brought in just under 66,000. Mind you, this is a Reds team who is currently under .500. Fans knew the type of hype Cruz brought. Not only Reds fans, but fans all across baseball were eagerly waiting to see him in a big league uniform. Elly has called his style of play \u201celectric\u201d. Just how electric was Cincinnati this week?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Elly De La Cruz casually goes 458 feet for his first MLB career home run… pic.twitter.com\/diImkK58YP<\/a><\/p>\n

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 7, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n