This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon’s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI -- Sure, Elly De La Cruz has all five tools at his disposal on the field. But forget about counting on one hand the ways the young shortstop uses his tools to help the Reds.

Especially lately, it feels like that number of ways could stretch to infinity.

"I am in like the real game speed, so you obviously see what he’s doing. I couldn’t imagine sitting back watching it on TV," Reds outfielder Will Benson marveled. "It probably looks crazy what he’s doing. He’s doing it with the bat. He’s doing it with his legs, his glove. He’s just there. He’s impacting the game in all facets. He’s a pretty special player, a special talent.”

Here are a few numbers that underscore what we've seen over just this past week from De La Cruz:

112: The total feet De La Cruz covered chasing down a Johan Rojas pop fly near the left-field line in the seventh inning of Tuesday's 8-1 win over the Phillies.

After the long run, De La Cruz made a great sliding catch.

“I don’t even know what to say. It’s rare to see plays like that," manager David Bell said. "When the whole dugout is looking at one another like, ‘What just happened?’ that’s a pretty good sign.

"If Elly or any other shortstop hadn’t even left their position, we wouldn’t have said, ‘Where was the shortstop on that play?’”

Left fielder Spencer Steer was playing towards the gap in left-center field, so he had no chance at making the catch.

"It was either Elly or it’s a double," Bell said.

“I don’t know if it was concentration. I think it’s more just running as fast as you can to catch that ball out there," De La Cruz said via translator Jorge Merlos. "If the left fielder gives me enough space, I’m going to go out there and make that play.”

1+1=50: In the eighth inning of the Reds' 7-4 win over Philadelphia on Wednesday, De La Cruz hit a one-out single. With Steer batting, he stole second base. Then, he stole third base, which enabled him to score on Steer's sacrifice fly.

"He pretty much created a run by himself. He's been doing that a lot," Benson said.

De La Cruz tied a career high with three steals in the game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that steal of third base made him the second-fastest Reds player since 1900 to notch 50 career steals (122 games). Billy Hamilton achieved the feat in 97 games.

5/10 in 20: De La Cruz is the second player since 1900, according to Elias, to have at least five home runs and 10 stolen bases in his first 20 games of the season. He joined Ken Williams from the 1922 St. Louis Browns. De La Cruz has seven homers and 17 steals for the season.

4: The career-high number of walks De La Cruz drew on April 20 during a 7-5 win over the Angels. He previously hadn't walked more than twice in a game.

.400/.571/.750: De La Cruz's slash line during the recent seven-game homestand. He also hit two homers with seven RBIs, eight walks and six strikeouts.

Zero: The number of errors De La Cruz has made since his last one on April 9. He has five for the season.

“That’s what we want to do, affect the game any way possible," De La Cruz said. "Whether we do it defensively or offensively, we’re just trying to make an impact any way that we can.”

De La Cruz struggled mightily the final two months of his rookie season after bursting out of the gate upon his June 6 big league debut. He was off to a somewhat uneventful start over the first nine games of 2024 before things seemed to start clicking.

"There’s going to be ups and downs throughout the season, but I feel like I’m the same exact person," De La Cruz said. “I’ve learned a lot of things from last year. But the one thing that I realized is you have to have that routine to have that consistency. That’s the biggest thing.”