Elly De La Cruz (CIN): 4-5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI, SB.
Monday was a perfect reminder that Elly De La Cruz is a truly game-breaking talent. Sometimes, it feels like Elly was created in a Severance Lab by Lumon Industries to lead their Mashing Baseballs department. Monday’s ludicrous statline of 4-5, 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI, 1 SB is the kind of performance that has fantasy managers confident in their matchups just one day into the week. Coming to the plate a triple shy of the cycle, Elly decided that he’d rather deliver another home run instead, mashing his second long ball of the day to straightaway center field.
Monday was the first big day of the season for De La Cruz after a pedestrian opening series against San Francisco, as he tallied his first two homers as well as his first steal on the young campaign. After breaking out in 2024, Elly was one of the riskier picks in the first round, as he has an incredibly tantalizing upside but also a tendency to strike out. That latter issue hasn’t shown up yet this year, as De La Cruz is making plenty of contact, striking out only 23.5% of the time (yes, it’s still very early). If Elly can keep up this pattern of hitting baseballs hard while keeping the strikeout rate down just a bit, he may somehow exceed expectations in 2025. As for last night’s performance–I think it’s more than deserving of a Music/Dance experience.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Monday:
Matt McLain (CIN): 2-3, HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, BB.
Elly wasn’t the only Cincinnati Red who had plenty of fun on Monday, as McLain went yard for the third straight game and also tallied four runs of his own. Following a breakout second half of 2023, McLain missed all of 2024 with a myriad of injuries, but he appears to be picking up right where he left off in 2025. He has the potential to finish as a Top 5 option in the middle infield positions, especially with De La Cruz behind him to drive him in.
Carson Kelly (CHC): 4-4, 2B, 3B, HR, 3 R, 5 RBI, 2 BB.
The first Cycle of the season belongs to… the Cubs’ backup catcher?! Yeah, this one wasn’t on my Bingo card, and it shouldn’t ring any alarm bells for you either in terms of needing to rush to the waiver wire. Kelly is a fine real-life baseball player but should operate behind Miguel Amaya for most of the season. Rather, Kelly’s performance (along with several others in this game, including Kyle Tucker going off once again) is notable for being the first game of the year in Sutter Health Park, the Athletics’ home for the 2025 season. It’s possible that this was a “blame it on the A’s pitching” scenario, but this venue could be a more hitter-friendly environment than the Coliseum of years past. Still, props to Kelly for the first Cubs cycle since Mark Grace did it in 1993!
Andrés Giménez (TOR): 2-2, 2B, HR, 3 R, RBI, BB, SB.
The second baseman continues to rake in the cleanup spot for Toronto, hitting his third home run of the young season while also swiping his first bag. So, is this early-season performance for real? I’m not buying it. Giménez carries a career 30.6% hard-hit rate, about six percent below the MLB average, but has a 53.3% hard-hit rate to begin the season. I’m not saying it’s impossible that he sustains some harder contact throughout the year, but this seems like a good chance to sell high to a 2B-needy team if they’re overreacting to a hot start. Small sample sizes can do wonders for a player’s value.
Gavin Sheets (SDP): 3-3, 2 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI, BB.
Speaking of hot starts, we have Gavin Sheets getting off to a torrid start in his first season in San Diego. The outfielder spent the last four seasons mired in the South Side of Chicago and is making the most of his opportunity as the Padres’ DH against righties with a 1.390 OPS across 15 PAs. For those of you in 15-team leagues or formats with five outfielders, Sheets is worth a speculative add as long as he stays hot.
Michael A. Taylor (CHW): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB.
This portion of the writeup isn’t just dedicated to Taylor, but also his other teammates who hit long balls off of Chris Paddack: Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Benintendi. While the South Siders were able to hit Paddack hard from the jump, it’s important to remember this group also struggled against the Angels’ lackluster pitching staff over the opening weekend. I’d hesitate to use any White Sox hitter as more than a matchup-based streamer in daily leagues for the time being.
Jake Mangum (TBR): 4-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, 2 SB.
Congratulations to Jake Mangum, who got the call to the bigs after Josh Lowe hit the IL and last night not only tallied his first big-league hit, but his second, third, and fourth, as well! Mangum is a switch-hitting outfielder who should see some extra reps as long as Lowe is sidelined. In Triple-A last season, he tallied six homers and 20 steals, so while he might not provide a lot of power, he could be a solid source of streaming steals.
Lars Nootbaar (STL): 2-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB.
Nootbaar is crushing it in the leadoff spot in 2025 thus far, carrying a .462/.632/.923 slash line through his first four games. Nootbaar has always had a patient approach at the plate, making him a perfect candidate for the top spot on the lineup card. He deserves to be added in all formats and should be a quality source of ratios and counting stats this season as long as he stays healthy.
James Wood (WSN): 2-3, HR, R, RBI, BB.
It’s the first home run of the year for the Nats’ lefty, who took Bowden Francis deep for an oppo taco home run to go back-to-back with his teammate, CJ Abrams. The young powerhouse is looking to build on a strong finish to his 2024 season, and even though it’s been a tad slow getting started, this was a good sign that Wood can pick up right where he left off. Young players require a little more patience, especially at the beginning of the season, and Wood is no exception.
Justyn-Henry Malloy (DET): 2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB.
JHM is the temporary replacement on the Tigers’ roster while Gleyber Torres recovers from an injury. While he hit in the leadoff spot on Monday and performed well, he struggled to a .657 OPS in 2024. We need a larger sample size of success before we consider adding him in anything other than deeper AL-only formats.
