Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz Issues Bold Claim to Gold Medalist Noah Lyles

Elly De La Cruz has already cemented himself as one of the fastest players in baseball, but the Cincinnati Reds shortstop went one step further when he said he could beat Team USA sprinter Noah Lyles in a race.

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) runs to third base in the sixth inning of an MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, at Great American Ball Park in downtown Cincinnati. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

From the moment he burst onto the scene in 2023, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has set himself apart as one of the most electrifying athletes in baseball.

The 22-year-old is already up to 102 stolen bases in his career. Nobody else has more than 72 in that same span.

De La Cruz ranked No. 1 in MLB with a top sprint speed of 30.5 feet per second in 2023, per Baseball Savant. This season, he ranked No. 3 at 30.0 feet per second.

And yet, the rising star still might be overestimating just how fast he is.

Team USA sprinter Noah Lyles – who won gold in the 100-meter dash at the 2024 Paris Olympics with an official time of 9.784 seconds – recently accepted a challenge from YouTuber IShowSpeed. Lyles barely eked out a win in the 50-meter race for $100K, and when De La Cruz saw the video, he wasn’t particularly impressed.

“They think they’re fast,” De La Cruz posted on social media. “I’ll beat them for sure.”

they think they’re fast! I’ll beat them for sure😅 https://t.co/GXAVCwG4Q4

— Elly De la cruz (@ellylacocoa18) November 7, 2024

At his gold medal pace, Lyles had an average speed of 33.5 feet per second. De La Cruz’s top speed of 30.5 feet per second is pulled from his fastest one-second window, rather than an average across nearly 10 seconds like Lyles, and he is still 8.9% slower.

Not being as fast as Lyles isn’t exactly an embarrassing designation for De La Cruz, considering Lyles is the fastest man on Earth. De La Cruz is also the face of the Reds and one of the most popular baseball players of his generation.

De La Cruz placed seventh in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, then made his first All-Star Game in 2024. He finished the season batting .259 with 25 home runs, 36 doubles, 10 triples, 67 stolen bases, 76 RBI, 105 runs, an .809 OPS and a 5.2 WAR, appearing in 160 games.

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