Farmers Only - Elly De La BOOM

Elly De La Cruz! Elly De La Cruz!

I’m not exactly sure what else I can say about him at this juncture, other than he simply mashes the living hell out of baseballs and is about to get paid very, very well to do so at the highest level in the world for a long, long time. Hopefully, that’s by the Cincinnati Reds, but you just never know with those bozos.

To the games...!

Dayton Dragons 6, Cedar Rapids Kernels 5 (High-A)

Screw the pattern, we’re starting with High-A in this one. They’re the best team in the Cincinnati Reds entire organization, they’re perhaps the most talented team in the minors, and leading their charge is one Elly “Three Feet High and Rising” De La Cruz, who just had a ho-hum 3 for 4 game that featured a homer, a walk, 2 ribbies, and 2 runs scored. He also stole his 16th bag of the season, probably was crowned prom king, guessed the exact price in showcase showdown, and won that Lucky For Life lottery game that pays you a thousand bucks a day every day until you die. What a day for the kid, really, who now owns a .938 OPS on the season and might well be the best prospect in baseball. Oh, Allan “Sleeper Sofa” Cerda joined Elly in socking a homer while posting a 3-hit, 2-walk day, and his ridiculous talent deserves some dap here, too.

Here’s Elly swatting his homer, by the way:

/drools

Durham Bulls 4, Louisville Bats 3 (AAA)

The Bats were no matadors on Tuesday, nor could they contain the bulls like the streets of Pamplona. That said, they got another bang-up outing from Jose “American Honky-Tonk” Barrero, the guy who we’ve been throwing all those same Elly Accolades at for the last two years. He socked a homer as part of his own 3-hit day, while Donovan “Do Re Mi Fa” Solano and Stuart “County” Fairchild each added a hit and a ribbie. Buck “Spoonerism” Farmer fanned 5 in 2.1 scoreless IP of relief to lower his AAA ERA down to...ah, nevermind.

Chattanooga Lookouts 7, Biloxi Shuckers 6 (AA)

James “Sugar” Free bird’d a homer, Matt McLain singled and walked twice, and Ivan Johnson tripled in a pair of runs as the Lookouts picked up the win on Tuesday. And while I’d like to continue my trend of simply ignoring the pitching since it was lackluster, I suppose I need to point out that the lacklustery outing from AA on the day was from promising prospect Brandon Williamson, who struggled with 3 ER (5 H, 3 BB, just 1 K) in 3.1 IP. His 5.5 BB/9 so far this year is, how do you say, not very bueno.

The Daytona Tortugas had their game against the Lakeland Flying Tigers suspended after just a lone inning of play due to wet conditions on the field. They’ll resume it today.