The Reds Need Elly De La Cruz To Be Better Than This
Mired in a terrible slump, De La Cruz has not been the star that Cincinnati desperately needs him to be.
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This was supposed to be the year the Cincinnati Reds finally made some noise in the baseball world, which would hopefully lead to their first non-COVID playoff berth since 2013. While the season is not yet over, the Reds are only 3.0 games back of the New York Mets for the final Wild Card spot heading into play on September 17, it’s hard not to be disappointed.
The starting pitching has been great all year long. And while the bullpen has surely had its problems throughout the year, most would point to this Reds offense as the reason the team is likely to fall short of its goals.
Now, on the whole, Cincinnati’s offensive struggles start in the general manager’s office. It all boils down to the way this team is constructed.
After that, you can point to the lineup card, where future Hall of Famer Terry Francona seems to just not have a handle on things. But, putting those factors aside, there was still hope for this team. However, for any team, let alone a team constructed like the Reds, the stars need to be stars.
Elly De La Cruz has not been that star.
In 2025, Elly is slashing .263/.334/.435, good for a .769 OPS. He has hit 19 home runs and stolen 35 bases. Those are stats you’d be happy with from a solid contributor to your team, not the guy who is supposed to be the catalyst of your postseason push.
That said, the cumulative stats aren’t the problem. It’s what he has, or really hasn’t, done lately that is the issue. Through the first half of the season, Elly had 18 home runs and 25 stolen bases. Just one home run and 10 stolen bases in the second half is not going to cut it. Going back even further, that one home run is his only long ball since June 24.
Looking at his stats from the beginning of the year through June 23, the young shortstop was slugging over .500 with 18 home runs, stealing bases, and getting on at a high clip. It looked as though he may be on his way to fully breaking out as a true offensive superstar, as he had an OPS over 1.000 in the month of June.
Sadly, that breakout never materialized. In the second half, De La Cruz is slashing .231/.292/.335, good for a bleak .627 OPS. A 50-point drop in batting average, a 160-point drop in slugging percentage, and a whopping 227-point drop in OPS isn’t going to cut it for a team that needs him to be at the top of his game in order to reach the postseason.
Yes, it has been said that De La Cruz has been dealing with a quad issue throughout the season, but that quad issue does not impact his ability to recognize spin, which is something he is still struggling with mightily, as he is striking out over 28% of the time against sliders and over 40% of the time against curveballs.
Along with that inability to recognize spin, De La Cruz still puts the ball on the ground way too much. The league average groundball rate is 44.3%. He is currently hitting the ball on the ground at a 51.5% clip.
I don’t want to entirely dismiss the errors in the field at shortstop either. It needs to get better. Elly is capable of being better. Going from +14 Outs Above Average in 2024 to -4 OAA in 2025 is a crazy fall off. Could the struggles at the plate be contributing to his struggles in the field? Certainly.
But, it is not Elly De La Cruz the fielder that is going to stop this team from playing in October, it is this version of Elly De La Cruz the hitter – the one that boasts a 68 wRC+ in the second half, which means he has been 32% worse than a league average hitter in that time.
The Reds have changes they need to make this winter from top to bottom. Yet, none of that matters if Elly can’t be better than this. He absolutely should be better than this. We have seen the flashes of superstardom. Even if he never fully realizes that sky-high potential, he cannot be what he is right now. This team has no chance to achieve any noteworthy goal if De La Cruz isn’t a driving force.
As the great Eric Treuden once said to me, “A lot of times, a team can only be as good as its best player.”
We all know that Elly De La Cruz is the Reds’ best player. Although a better way to phrase that might be, he absolutely needs to be their best player and at his best for the Reds to achieve their goals.
Stats updated prior to games on Sept. 17.
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