Elly De La Cruz Is Flashing MVP Potential for the Reds
De La Cruz is as exciting a young superstar as there is in MLB. While not the favorite, he is certainly a name to consider in the 2025 NL MVP race.
Elly De La Cruz is one of the premier up-and-coming superstars in all of Major League Baseball. So far in his young career, he has shown flashes of being an MVP-level talent.
The question is, can he become that MVP this season?
Through 10 games, the young shortstop is slashing .250/.286/.450 with two home runs. Those numbers certainly aren’t eye-popping.
But, on March 31, we saw that true MVP potential when De La Cruz had four hits, including both of his home runs this season and a double. That night, the shortstop also knocked in seven as he was the driving force in the Cincinnati Reds‘ 14-3 win over the Texas Rangers.
The biggest complaints from Elly’s doubters are the strikeout frequency and errors in the field. While his defense is still an area for improvement, we have already seen a slight improvement at the plate. Through 10 games, the 23-year-old is whiffing a little less, chasing a little less, and striking out a little less than he did in 2024.
In addition to striking out less often, De La Cruz has been hitting the ball hard on a more consistent basis. In his first two seasons, he posted a hard-hit rate just under 46%. This season, albeit a short sample, he has a hard-hit rate of 65.5%.
Now, metrics like that aren’t going to be the way that De La Cruz earns MVP votes. He needs results. But the metrics tell us that those results could certainly be in the cards this season.
If he can maintain his lower strikeout rate and continue to make plenty of hard contact, De La Cruz should improve upon his already-impressive 2024 campaign. And if he does that, he could certainly find himself as an MVP candidate.
In addition to his overall results at the plate, there are two other areas for improvement for number 44 to help his MVP case: He needs to make the routine defensive plays and come up clutch when the Reds need him most.
De La Cruz makes some crazy plays defensively, there is no question about that. But, he has still had a couple of routine plays become errant plays, whether he is throwing the ball to first or actually fielding a ground ball. He will have the highlight plays defensively, he just needs to improve enough to not lead the league in errors once again.
In 2025, the Reds have already had an awful streak of three games in a row that resulted in a 1-0 loss. Amidst that streak, De La Cruz made the final out twice and also ended the 8th inning with a groundout with a man on base in the other. It was a rough stretch for the team as a whole, and De La Cruz’s inability to produce in clutch moments was just as much of a letdown.
According to FanGraphs, Elly had a -2.05 Clutch rating in 2024 and already has a -0.10 rating in 2025. That means he has been worse than his typical self in higher-leverage spots.
If Elly is going to be that MVP candidate that I believe he can be, he needs to have those clutch moments at the plate. So far in his MLB career, De La Cruz has not had any type of walk-off hit.
Are there some negatives? Sure. I laid them out for you. But so far this season, De La Cruz has already started to make improvements that he needed to make at the plate. The results will come. I am confident in that. If he can be a bit more consistent with the routine plays at short and be productive in the clutch, there will be nothing holding him back.
And an Elly De La Cruz that has nothing holding him back is the type of player that can bring home an MVP Award. He is not far off from making that a reality here in 2025.
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