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The beginning Elly De La Cruz is going for is starting to sound like a tall tale you might have heard from your grandparents, unbelievable and perhaps embellished.

But the only thing in this tale is EDLC’s height: 6-foot-5.

The 21-year-old shortstop walked the Louisville slugger in the ninth with one out and Caleb Ort on the mound. The right-hander had not allowed a run in seven games for the Triple-A Red Sox affiliate this season, but that changed in a hurry. After making the count 3-2, De La Cruz sent the Bats fans home happy with a fastball over the right-center field wall.

The homer traveled 432 feet and left De La Cruz’s bat at 109.2 mph, and you know what’s crazy? That’s not a particularly high exit rate for the Reds’ top prospect. The Dominican Republic native recorded a 118.8 mph bat this season — the hardest ever recorded at Triple-A — and has four other top-10 rankings.

In addition to hitting a mammoth home run, De La Cruz showed other encouraging signs on Tuesday. He went 1-for-3 but walked twice and hit just one hit. He averaged more than five pitches per at-bat, evidence that his focus on good swing decisions is starting to pay off.

De La Cruz has a 25/20 walk ratio in May, bettering his 18/2 ratio in April through nine games.

The standout performance extended De La Cruz’s hitting streak to 10 games, and he’s sporting a .304/.401/.659 slash line this season, giving fans even more reason to expect his major league debut to be on the horizon.

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