Elly De La Cruz Injected Himself Into the Tyreek Hill-Noah Lyles Debate

Elly De La Cruz said 'not so fast' to Hill and Lyles.

Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz during the sixth inning of a September 29 game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. / Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

As Miami Dolphins All-Pro wide receiver Tyreek Hill and three-time Olympic medalist and sprinter Noah Lyles bicker about who would win in a race, Cincinnati Reds star shortstop Elly De La Cruz has something to say.

De La Cruz took to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday night and injected himself into the debate between the two speedsters.

"They think they’re fast! I’ll beat them for sure," De La Cruz wrote.

The feud between Hill and Lyles all began back in August following the latter's bronze medal win in the men's 200m at the Paris Olympics, when Hill accused him of faking the effects of the COVID-19 virus following his somewhat disappointing showing. The Dolphins wideout then declared he would beat Lyles in a race. In response, Lyles pretended to forget Hill's name.

Hill then reignited the debate following Lyles's recent race against popular YouTube streamer IShowSpeed, who was narrowly bested by the American sprinter. Hill poked fun at Lyles, who later responded by saying he would defeat the Dolphins receiver in a race just as he did against iShowSpeed.

And while this debate seems to be squarely between the 4.29-speed of Hill and the American-record-breaking sprints of Lyles, don't discount De La Cruz.

Since his MLB debut in June of 2023, he has stolen 102 bases, including a league-leading 67 swipes in '24. De La Cruz ranked first in MLB in the Statcast metric Sprint Speed in '23 and third in the metric in '24. The Reds star was clocked running from home-to-home in under 15 seconds while hitting an inside-the-park home run back in April.

In short, he's fast.

Hopefully one day the sports world gets to see just how fast in comparison to the likes of Hill and Lyles.

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