What if Elly De La Cruz did the Home Run Derby?

ATLANTA — On Monday afternoon in Atlanta, two All-Stars were having a conversation. Andrew Abbott was chatting up Kyle Schwarber, and they were talking about the Home Run Derby.

Schwarber, one of the game’s best sluggers, isn’t doing it this year. Maybe he will next year if Schwarber re-signs with the Phillies and gets the chance to do the Home Run Derby at his home park (the All-Star Game is in Philadelphia next year).

Abbott then brought up that conversation to Elly De La Cruz. He was wondering what De La Cruz’s long-term Home Run Derby plans were.

So are all of us.

“I asked, ‘Are you waiting until we get the all star game back in Cincinnati to do it?’” Abbott said. “Elly would definitely have the skills to win it. Hopefully we can convince him in years to come.”

Schwarber agreed.

“Elly has a factor about him, and I think he’s going to like the spotlight,” Schwarber said. “I think he’s going to like being in that atmosphere. He’ll like that. He looks like a player who’s going to like it. I’m just looking for a great Home Run Derby with an electric atmosphere.”

De La Cruz says, “If I decide to do it, it’ll be because I can win it. I can win it for sure.”

What would his approach be?

“Hit homers.”

He said that he’d mostly hit from the left side, but he’d also mix in some right-handed swing if that was feeling really comfortable on that day.

This year wasn’t the year for De La Cruz to participate in one of the best events on the baseball calendar. He has been banged up at different points this season, and there’s a lot of additional wear and tear that comes up when you participate in the event.

One day, though, his peers want to see him in it.

Bobby Witt Jr. said, “He hit one in Kauffman (Stadium) where I haven’t seen a lot of balls hit. When he squares it up, it’s going to go far. It’s really special to see how talented he is and the player he is.”

Brent Rooker said, “He’d do great. He’s super fluid. A super whippy swing. A ton of easy power. Athletic. He’d do a great job.”

Ryan O’Hearn said, “I’m sure he’d look great. He hits the ball that hard. He has all the tools in the world. It would be fun to watch.”

Typically, there are two types of Home Run Derby participants. There are the burly sluggers like Pete Alonso, and there are the wiry elite athletes like Ken Griffey Jr. De La Cruz falls into the ladder category, but he also hits the ball harder than most of the players in that archetype.

“You need someone with easy power,” Padres reliever Jason Adam said. “Elly has that easy power. He doesn’t need to get all of it to get it out. He’s a special talent.

There’s also the question of what a switch hitter should do. Adley Rutschman has swung from both sides. We’ll see what Cal Raleigh does tonight.

You hear mixed opinions about the advantage switch hitting gives you, including from De La Cruz who sounded much more likely to just swing left-handed.

“I don’t know if hitting left handed also makes you tired right handed,” Rooker said. “I’d guess if you split it up it’d be a bit of an advantage from a stamina perspective. The disadvantage is having to work through two different swings.”

Ketel Marte, a switch hitter, definitively stated that he’d just hit from one side of the plate.

Alonso said switch hitting could be a disadvantage: “It’s probably more of a mental battle for them. Do you do this side? That side? Even it out? That’s too many details.”

Adam said that it could depend on the park. If you’re at a place like the Astros’ home stadium, then swinging from the right side toward their short left field porch could give you an advantage.

Mets pitcher David Peterson said, “You need powers to all field. A lot of switch hitters are usually more contact from one side and power from the other. My teammate, Lindor, can do it from both sides of the plate. If it doesn’t tire you out more, you could have an advantage from both sides of the plate.”

Ultimately, the Derby veterans stressed that tools like raw power or which side you swing from can be overrated.

“It’s not a strength or power thing,” Alonso said. “It’s who can outlast. Who can beat someone. You go to think of it like a boxing match.”