The Reds may be decidedly mediocre, but Elly De La Cruz is far from that. The Red shortstop has the tools to leave a stadium in awe at a given moment. That's exactly what happened on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
Since Statcast began tracking throws in 2015, no infield player has thrown a baseball harder in an assist than what De La Cruz did at Dodger Stadium.
With the game tied in the third inning and Teoscar Hernández at the plate, the Dodgers outfielder had himself a likely inside-the-park home run after Dane Myers whiffed badly on his diving attempt. The ball rolled all the way to the wall, and left fielder JJ Bleday wasn't even in the frame.
The entire mission was to retrieve the ball and get it to De La Cruz who was some 200 feet away from
the plate. It didn't matter that Hernández was rounding third. De La Cruz unleashed a 102 mph throw to get Hernández out with ease. The throw was initially registered at 105.3 mph before Statcast modified it to 102.
ELLY DE LA CRUZ THREW OUT TEOSCAR HERNANDEZ WITH A 105.3 MPH THROW FROM THE OUTFIELD 🤯pic.twitter.com/10CYi6B9Oc
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 9, 2026
Still, everything about that throw was ridiculous. The break on that ball, the precision — just wow. It also had to help that Hernández's sprinting capacity appeared to be 270 feet. But De La Cruz was likely the lone infielder who could have made that throw.
Fans were beyond impressed, as they should have been.
How social media reacted
Teoscar Hernández said this would have been his first inside-the-park home run as a pro at any level.
— Rowan Kavner (@RowanKavner) September 9, 2026
He thought he was close to scoring...until he watched the replay: "I think he's the only one who can throw me out in that situation." https://t.co/hCtxBmEYp4
And he did it while kind of off balance https://t.co/jxyTedmWus
— Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) September 9, 2026
Another super human freak that I can appreciate bc they don’t wear a dodgers uniform https://t.co/5ZwMQcxZpJ
— Deanna (@D_atthedome) September 9, 2026
This is purely insane. https://t.co/e9XQAOe7D3
— Eric Luallen (@EricLuallen) September 9, 2026
Elly De La Cruz!!
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 9, 2026
This throw was 102.0 mph, per Statcast 💪
By FAR the fastest assist by an infielder under Statcast (2015), surpassing his own 99.8 mph
Only 10 *outfielder* assists have been faster in span, including playoffs pic.twitter.com/62zgTye6A5
Drop whatever you’re doing, folks 🚨
— Not Gaetti (@notgaetti) September 9, 2026
There are a few things about this relay throw from Elly that are just staggering:
• the 105.3 mph velocity is insane
• the laser-beam accuracy is beautiful
• maybe the deepest I’ve seen a SS relay
• Teoscar had NO business getting hosed https://t.co/NbR0Lv4VgE
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Elly De La Cruz's 102 mph relay assist had MLB fans in complete awe
