De La Cruz Promoted to Chattanooga; Departs as One of Dragons All-Time Best Players

DAYTON, OHIO—The Dayton Dragons, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Reds, announced the following roster changes today:

Infielder Elly De La Cruz has been promoted to Double-A Chattanooga.

Infielder Quincy McAfee has been transferred to Dayton from Chattanooga.

De La Cruz leaves the Dragons as one of the most heralded and productive players in franchise history. Here are a few points of summary:

--De La Cruz was rated by Baseball America in their recently updated rankings as the #1 prospect in the Reds organization, becoming the first Reds #1 prospect playing with the Dragons since Homer Bailey in 2005.

--De La Cruz played Saturday in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game as part of the MLB All-Star event in Los Angeles. He became the first Dragons player to play in the Futures Game since Hunter Greene in 2018.

--As the seventh youngest position player in the Midwest League with at least 160 at-bats, he played in 73 games with the Dragons, batting .302 with 20 home runs and 52 runs batted in. At the time of his promotion to Chattanooga, De La Cruz led the MWL in slugging percentage and was tied for the league lead in home runs while ranking in the top five in OPS, RBI, batting average, hits, runs, extra base hits, and stolen bases.

--De La Cruz became just the third player in Dragons history to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season, joining Wily Mo Pena (2001) and Jose Siri (2017). De La Cruz did it in his first 71 games of the 2022 season, and he is the only player in professional baseball to have reached 20/20 so far this season.

--De La Cruz ranks second in Dragons history in extra base hits per game (minimum 50 games) with 0.55, trailing only Nick Senzel (0.57) in 2016. Third on the list is Jay Bruce (0.54) in 2006.

--De La Cruz became the third player in Dragons history to hit 20 home runs in a season while batting at least .300, joining Austin Kearns (2000) and Donald Lutz (2011).

--Twice within a three-day period (July 7 and July 9), De La Cruz hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game. No other Dayton player had done it once since Henry Rodriguez on April 12, 2010.

--Over his last 39 games (since May 25), De La Cruz batted .333 with 14 home runs and 29 RBI. His slugging percentage since May 25 (.706) is second in Minor League Baseball.

The Dragons open a three-game series tonight against the Fort Wayne TinCaps at 7:05 p.m. at Day Air Ballpark in the heart of the Water Street District. The series continues with games through Sunday.

For ticket information, call (937) 228-2287 or go to daytondragons.com.

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