The Dynasty Digest: April 1, 2025

We made it to April. It is hard to believe March has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Spring Training is a distance memory, and regular-season baseball is in full swing. Monday is the typical minor league off day so it’s just the majors to discuss today, but there was plenty of good action and notable player performances.

If you are unfamiliar with the Dynasty Digest, it is a daily newsletter covering the previous days’ action. While the main focus is usually Minor League Baseball, I will also be hitting on MLB performances to know as well. 

Let’s break them down!

The Dynasty Digest, April 1, 2025

Elly De La Cruz, SS, Cincinnati Reds

Hey Siri, play Superstar by Lupe Fiasco. Sure, the song might be 18 years old at this point, but it takes me back to middle-school jams and reminds me of what Elly is.

De La Cruz got a combo meal on Monday, meaning he homered and stole a base. He did not just homer once, but twice, and drove in seven runs. Adding a single and a double, De La Cruz wound up just a triple shy of the cycle. The most insane thing is that of his five batted ball events; the weakest ended at 99 mph.

The home runs were not cheap shots either, as De La Cruz smoked his second-inning home run off Kumar Rocker 418 feet with a 107.2 mph exit velocity. The seventh-inning homer, 110.2 mph, traveled 436 feet.

Last season, De La Cruz hit 25 homers and stole 67 bases. It would honestly not surprise me if he hit 35 bombs this year and stole 75 bases. That is the kind of talent we are looking at.

Andrés Giménez, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays

We have to talk about what Giménez is doing to start the year, as it is nothing short of impressive. Winning the Gold Glove award for three straight years and receiving the 2023 Platinum Glove award shows the kind of talent we are working within the field. But a three-year decline at the plate had people wondering what kind of bat the Blue Jays were getting when they traded for Giménez this offseason.

Giménez was quoted saying he was working on his approach this offseason after running a chase rate north of 40 percent his entire career. The exit velocity data has also been among the worst in the league. Sure, the contact skills have always been strong, and Giménez was a threat on the base paths, but it did not mean a lot with sub .300 OBPs and minimal power.

Suddenly, Giménez has found power as homered for the third time in 22 plate appearances this year. The early returns on the data are good as Giménez has added two mph of bat speed, and his average exit velocity on 15 batted balls is 94.6 mph, an eight mph jump.

The other thing of note is launch angles. After hitting the ball in the air less than 50 percent of the time in 2024, Giménez currently has an air rate of 73.3 percent. The changes are all backed by a swing change and added bat speed. Will it stick all year? We shall see.

We don’t just talk surface stats here. We research and help you understand why a player performs. Get all the info you need to know about Monday’s top performers by subscribing below!

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