Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Played with second-half quad strain
Rotowire
Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed this week that De La Cruz played through a left quad strain from late July through the end of the season, Mark Sheldon and Manny Randhawa of MLB.com report.
It's not clear when exactly De La Cruz was first hurt, and Krall indicated the injury wasn't overly serious. However, after slashing .284/.359/.495 with 18 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the first half, De La Cruz hit only .236/.303/.363 with four homers and 12 steals in the second half, so it's reasonable to think the injury affected him to some degree. De La Cruz is expected to be fully healthy at the beginning of spring training.
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Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Will remain at shortstop in 2026
Rotowire
The Reds plan to keep De La Cruz at shortstop next season, Charlie Goldsmith of Fox 19 Now Cincinnati reports.
De La Cruz has led baseball in errors in each of his two full seasons as the Reds' starting shortstop. After grading out at plus-14 in Outs Above Average in 2024, per Baseball Savant, he came in at minus-3 in 2025. The inconsistency on defense from De La Cruz has led to speculation that he could move to the outfield, but there are no plans for a position switch at this point. The Reds do plan to give De La Cruz more days off and more starts at designated hitter in 2026, per Goldsmith, with the idea that it will help keep him fresh after he struggled offensively and defensively in the second half in 2025.
De La Cruz went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk in Tuesday's loss to Pittsburgh.
De La Cruz's second-inning home run was the only source of offense for the Reds. It was his second long ball in his last four appearances after finally snapping a 43-game drought. He entered August with an .852 OPS, but he's now sporting a .784 OPS through 677 plate appearances. De La Cruz has 21 homers, 59 extra-base hits and 36 stolen bases this season.
De La Cruz went 1-for-2 with two walks and a solo home run in Friday's 7-4 win over the Cubs. He was also caught stealing.
De La Cruz helped break a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning when he hit the second of back-to-back home runs. The blast, his 20th of the season, was his first since July 31. In those 43 games in between homers, De La Cruz slashed .205/.255/.290 with just 10 RBI.
Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Logs steal in third straight game
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 1-for-4 with a stolen base in Friday's 3-0 loss to the Athletics.
De La Cruz has swiped a bag in three straight games, and he's hit safely in five straight. Prior to this recent uptick in steals, he had logged just one theft on two attempts over a 25-game span from Aug. 11 to Sept. 8. The shortstop is up to 35 steals on the year, matching his rookie-year total but well behind the 67 he posted over 160 games in 2024. De La Cruz has added a .266/.333/.439 slash line, 19 home runs, 82 RBI and 97 runs scored across 147 contests in 2025.
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Player Bio
HT/WT: 6-5, 200 lbs
Birthplace: Sabana Grand de Boya, Dominican Republic
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