Elly De La Cruz explains his surprise MLB All-Star Weekend decision

Just when Cincinnati Reds fans thought that they couldn’t love Elly De La Cruz more, he is banking even more goodwill.

The Reds phenom revealed this week that he received an invite to participate in this year’s Home Run Derby … but turned it down.

“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 explained through a translator, per Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Wittenmyer adds that De La Cruz took the advice of his agent Scott Boras, who told him that the best decision might be to decline the Derby invite.

The 21-year-old De La Cruz has had a dream start to his MLB career. In less than a month since being called up, De La Cruz is hitting .281 with a .809 OPS (including three homers, 12 RBI, and nine stolen bases.) He has burst onto the scene as one of the most vibrant young talents in baseball, and the Reds are suddenly winning a whole lot of ballgames too (18-6 since De La Cruz debuted.)

But it may have been a case of too much, too soon if De La Cruz had participated in this year’s Home Run Derby. Even setting aside the infamous “Derby ruins your swing” theory, the workload, exposure and pressure to perform can be a lot for a young rookie like De La Cruz.

With Cincinnati now actually having something to play for this season, De La Cruz’s decision is a smart one. He does not need the All-Star Weekend to produce highlights since he does enough of that in regular season games.