Reds' Elly De La Cruz Declined Invitation to 2023 MLB Home Run Derby

It appears that baseball fans will need to wait a bit longer to see one of the league's budding stars in the home run derby.

Cincinnati Reds star rookie Elly De La Cruz confirmed that he was invited to participate in the event during the 2023 All Star festivities at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, but declined the opportunity.

"I'd rather focus on this season and make sure I'm able to contribute to this team and help this team win," De La Cruz said through his interpreter (via Gordon Wittenmyer of Cincinnati.com).

De La Cruz has played just 20 games for the Reds since being called up, but has made a major impact. He is hitting .281 with three home runs, 12 RBI's and nine stolen bases in his time in the majors.

De La Cruz's early success is remarkable but not necessarily a huge surprise. He's been a consistent fixture at the front of top prospect lists and was putting up terrific numbers in the minors. In 38 games with the AAA Louisville Bats, De La Cruz was hitting .297 with 12 home runs, 11 doubles, 36 RBI and an OPS of 1.031.

He also joined a Reds team that has surged since his arrival. The Reds were 28-33 on June 6 when De La Cruz was called up, but have turned the season around and now sit at second in the NL Central with a 45-39 and are a half-game behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

In addition to his great stats, De La Cruz has hit for the cycle and sent some towering home runs that make the prospect of him participating in the derby look very attractive. However, his agent Scott Boras advised him against joining it as a rookie as it could make him fatigued for the end of the season.

Still, the monetary gain that De La Cruz could get from possibly winning the competition is significant. The winner of the event gets $1 million from a prize pool of $2.5 million, and that number tends to be slightly insignificant for the high paid stars in MLB. However, for De La Cruz and his current $720,000 rookie salary, that would be a different story. He did confirm that playing in the actual All-Star Game itself is still on the table, but that would require him to be brought in as an injury replacement.

Still, De La Cruz showed that his focus is strictly on performing down the stretch and trying to lead the Reds to the postseason for the first time since 2020 and second time since 2013.

"I want to take my [All-Star] break in order to be ready for the rest of the season." De La Cruz said.