The link that would take Elly de la Cruz to professionalism happened in the least expected way possible. He had arrived late for evening baseball practices in his native Sabana Grande de Boyá and decided to stay out of the stadium, which provoked the anger and reproaches of Kayser Paredes, who participated as a player in the senior categories and served as coach in the afternoons.
That act led to the consequences that he had to carry out 10 laps around the field as punishment, but the attitude with which he faced the situation was truly valuable. In an oversight of Kayser, nine-year-old Elly had accumulated seven. He made her open her eyes and pay attention to who would become a protégé.
“I sent him to do 10 laps in the form of a ‘pique’ for the act he did. When I thought of him again, I ask myself: ‘and the boy?’ I see that he is walking around and he said that he had seven, ”paredes told Listín Diario. “That caught my attention because the play is quite large. Seeing a child around 9 years old with that rhythm is not common. I started following up and interacting with him.”
After not reaching his goal as a baseball player, Paredes returned from a pension in Monte Plata to Santo Domingo. He was still tied to the town that he left behind him, especially with a young man whom he confesses to have taken a liking to.
He had the initiative to propose to De la Cruz to move with him to the capital, which became possible after obtaining the permission of the prospect’s mother. “The opportunity happens when I meet the mother and she agrees to give me the child to bring him to Santo Domingo, here I function as absolute tutor and coach at the same time,” he said.
Appearance of Paredes in the dean, accompanied by the editors Carlos Moreta and Saulo Mota.
They undertook a journey in search of enhancing the speed and defense skills that the boy showed from his early years, in addition to working on the swing routes that on the fly gave him the corpulence to be able to hit balls with astronomical power.
Paredes, a professional teacher in the area of physical education, instilled the path of academic training along with baseball practices. This produced that, despite signing with the Cincinnati Reds at the age of 16 in the summer of 2018, the powerhouse obtained the high school certification.
The mentoring and training relationship continues, with a grateful De la Cruz who immediately received the call to the Major Leagues, picked up his cell phone to dial the number of whoever taught him the fundamentals of the ball and the bat.
Kayser obtained gigantic results with the first diamond he decided to polish, which prompted the establishment of the ‘Paredes Baseball Club’ league, which has more than 40 members.
While Elly, a sensational 6-5 infielder, is off to a blazing start in the Major Leagues going 4-for-11 with home runs, triples and doubles, plus a stolen base.
He has extrapolated defensive versatility to the maximum of scenarios, receiving participation in third base and shortstop for the Reds.
Elly de la Cruz, The Phenomenon
He also makes a big impression with the ground-skilled combination, who posts the fastest drive from home plate to third in just 10.83 seconds. No one has hit a 3 with that speed all year.
In another section, he converted the first home run of the year in one that reached 458 feet of distance and an exit velocity of 114.8 miles per hour, meaning the second hardest hit for the first home run in the Statcast Era (2015 to date). .