Was Elly De La Cruz drafted? Cincinnati Reds hot youngster's path to the majors charted

Elly De La Cruz has become the talk of the town since making his MLB debut for the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. The infielder's journey to the Majors has been a fairytale story since he signed for the Reds as an international free agent on July 2, 2018.

Interestingly, De La Cruz became the eighth Reds player to debut in the big league this season.

De La Cruz initially signed with the Reds for a reported $65,000 from the Dominican Republic. He was tipped as a backfield project when he debuted professionally in 2019 with the Dominican Summer League Reds.

De La Cruz didn't play any baseball in 2020 due to the cancellation of the season after the COVID-19 pandemic. The player had stints with the Arizona Complex League Reds and Daytona Tortugas the following year.

However, it wasn't until 2022 that De La Cruz quickly turned heads with his impressive batting performances.

He reached the Double-A in 2022 with 28 home runs and stole 47 bases in 121 games. It wasn't long before De La Cruz featured in the Triple-A with Louisville Bats at the start of the 2023 season.

He was eventually promoted to the major leagues for the first time following an injury to Nick Senzel early in June. His first game in the Major League was against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, June 6.

Elly De La Cruz's stats in the 2023 MLB season

Cincinnati Reds infielder Elly De La Cruz

Elly De La Cruz has had a strong start to his MLB career. The Cincinnati Reds infielder has already racked up three hits and one home run in seven at-bats with a .429 average.

De La Cruz got his first homer in the big leagues against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

The Reds are currently third in the NL Central with 29 wins and 33 defeats. While they're still in contention for a playoff berth, they'll be hoping to rack up a string of positive results before the All-Star game next month.