Philadelphia Phillies prospect Carlos De La Cruz — the 6-foot-8 first baseman with tantalizing exit velocities — found his power stroke for Double-A Reading this past week.
The 23-year-old right-handed slugger launched his first three home runs of the campaign for the Fightins as they picked up the first two wins of their season in a six-game set against Hartford at FirstEnergy Stadium.
De La Cruz homered on back-to-back days on Wednesday and Thursday, Wednesday’s coming as part of a three-hit performance:
He followed it up with his third of the year on Sunday into the left-field deck in Baseballtown.
The recent surge only continued what’s been a red-hot start to the season for De La Cruz, an undrafted free-agent acquisition by the Phillies in 2017. He’s taken advantage of the friendly confines on the Eastern League in his nine games, hitting .343/.410/.657/1.067 with three homers, two doubles and five RBIs.
A relatively unknown name at the start of his career, De La Cruz broke out in High-A Jersey Shore in 2022 and earned the promotion to Reading last summer, clubbing 17 home runs in 102 minor-league games. His status as a prospect is only on the rise as he continues to hit the ball hard and produce at the Double-A level.
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