Elly De La Cruz Sets A New Record With 102 MPH Throw To Home Plate

On Tuesday night in Los Angeles , Cincinnati Reds ' shortstop Elly De La Cruz hit a home run in his fourth consecutive game. His latest came in the top of third inning, with Dane Myers on first base. De La Cruz was ready for Tarik Skubal 's first-pitch change-up and smashed it 109.4 mph and 444-feet into the left field bleachers. That blast tied the game at two. Skubal only gave up two more hits the rest of the way, and the Dodgers won the game 3-2.

But the score could have been – maybe should have been – 4-2 if not for De La Cruz's heroics on the field. In the bottom half that same third inning, Dodger left field Teoscar Hernández hit a low line drive to center field. Myers dove forward in an attempt to make an acrobatic catch, but instead watched the ball roll all the way to the wall.

Hernández got on his horse and tried to turn a certain triple into his first inside-the-park home run in his professional career. Left fielder JJ Bleday hustled over and picked the ball up on the warning track and threw it back towards the infield. That is where De La Cruz was waiting. Cruz caught the ball in a perfect position to throw to the plate. And that is when he unleased a 102 mph fastball to catcher Jose Trevino from nearly 200 feet away. Truth be told, the ball was a little low and offline, but Trevino was easily able to catch it on a short hop on the right side of the plate and slide over to put an easy tag on Hernández, who was out by so much that didn't even try to make it all the way home.

It is hard to say with certainty if even an average throw would have retired Hernández at the plate, but we don't have to do that analysis.

According to Savant , De La Cruz's arm strength is in the 91 st percentile. It has been his calling card since he came into the league in 2023. And he called on that card Tuesday night in a way that no one ever has. The throw to retire Hernández was the hardest tracked assist by an infielder in the entire Statcast era, which goes back to 2015. In fact, according to MLB.com , Elly broke his own record "four times over."

Prior to Tuesday night, here is a sampling of some of Elly's other lasers, which happen to be the hardest-tracked assists by an infielder in the Statcast era:

1 st (tie): Elly De La Cruz: 99.8 mph, 8/8/2026 1 st (tie): Elly De La Cruz: 99.8 mph, 7/20/2023 2 nd : Elly De La Cruz: 99.7 mph, 8/27/2023 3 rd : Elly De La Cruz: 99.2 mph, 8/19/2026

However, even at 102 mph, he still trails Brenton Doyle , who unfurled a ball at 105.7 mph in 2023 to keep a runner from scoring on a potential sacrifice fly.

And Doyle was just slightly faster than Aaron Hicks , who let loose with a 105.5 mph rocket in 2016 to complete a double play with Danny Valencia trying to score from third base.

This season De La Cruz is slashing .283/.362/.506, which is a 5.0 bWAR season. But don't let the gaudy offensive stats fool you – that encompasses his 0.2 dWAR and he has a .971 fielding percentage. He is 12 th in MLB in Outs Above Average with 7 ( Bobby Witt Jr. leads with 23).

With the bat – from either side of the plate – with the glove, and especially with his arm, what 48,000 fans saw last night at Dodger Stadium was the full Elly De La Cruz experience.