De La Cruz was this offseason’s newsstand darling, in that his dazzling smile was the cover image of nearly every 2025 MLB season preview publication. As such, it’d only make sense he’s hopped on baseball’s newest imperiling trend: the torpedo bat. Elly famously missiled seven RBI just this weekend with the free-swingers’ favorite new toy. Controversial though they may be, they are very real, and are bending the betting markets for player props and game predictions/outcomes. They are catapulting totals. Skyrocketing stats. And, with a limited slate tonight and a small sample size of great success with the new swing stick, I think there’s some action on Elly’s prop market on which we should capitalize.
Here’s how I’ll play him against Brewers starter Nestor Cortes, whose last foray against the torpedo bats made him look like a former Yankee double-agent; he gave up three home runs on three pitches, and back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs. Just absolutely shelled. Indeed, that was Nestor’s last time on the bump, so let’s keep that in mind as we evaluate Elly’s props, available here.
Best Elly De La Cruz prop bet for Brewers vs. Reds tonight
Elly De La Cruz o1.5 HRR [Hits + Runs + RBI] (-105)
I’ll take the near-even-money juice on this HRR combo prop here for De La Cruz tonight. The Brewers, as a team, have a 7.83 ERA over the last five games. They’ve given up just about half as many walks as strikeouts during that time (26 : 51 ratio), which paves the way for even the most aggressive swingers to get forced into decent at-bats simply by virtue of poor command of the strike zone.
The Reds put up 14 runs in that game when Elly knocked in seven. Since then, the Rangers have blanked them twice. The Reds feel like the Cubs and the Red Sox in that they’re full of electrifying young talent that has a chance to coalesce and grow together into an unstoppable force. We know, of course, the biggest probably in Cincinnati has been health.
But, as noted above, so, too, has inconsistency. Which seems to go hand-in-hand with baseball’s most spectacular players. Once again, we’ll attack a bounce-back spot for a talented—and, most importantly, currently healthy—lineup to get Elly some opportunities to create some combination of 1+ run and 1+ hit tonight. And he might not even need that.
You could hit his total bases prop at 2+ for +145, if you so felt like that’s the better angle. But Cincinnati needs to show itself and its fans that it can find a consistent scoring rhythm. It’s a great spot to start tonight against a struggling starter on a floundering pitching staff, and we know Elly De La Cruz would be at the forefront, center, and on all the news stand covers of any sort of lineup ascendance for the Reds.
Best bet: Elly De La Cruz o1.5 HRR (-105)
Tail De La Cruz to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Cincinnati offense against ol’ Nestor with me in the DKN Betting Group here!
