The 2025 season was wildly inconsistent for Cincinnati Reds ironman shortstop Elly De La Cruz. Once viewed as a cornerstone for the club’s next core, the franchise’s relationship with its star may now be compromised.
De La Cruz had a strong first half to the season. In 415 plate appearances, he slashed .284/.359/.495 with 18 doubles, 18 homers, 63 RBI, and 25 stolen bases, while cutting his strikeout rate down to 24.3 percent. He was an easy choice for the National League All-Star Game (in which he was 0-for-2 with a strikeout).
De La Cruz had a disastrous second half to the season, however. In 284 PA, he hit just .236/.303/.363 with 13 2B, 4 HR, 23 RBI, and 12 SB. His strikeout rate climbed back up to 29.8 percent.
His overall struggles in the field defensively continued throughout the season, as De La Cruz’s 26 errors led the NL for a second straight season.
Reds Hoping To Keep Elly De La Cruz Rested; He Will Skip the World Baseball Classic
Some of the second-half struggles were explained after the season. The Reds finally revealed that De La Cruz had been playing through a strained quad. Manager Terry Francona still played De La Cruz in every game as the team chased a Wild Card spot in the playoffs, a mistake the future Hall of Fame skipper owned up to at the Winter Meetings:
“I didn’t do a very good job of that, and I own up to that. I love the fact that he wants to play, and he’s one of the rare guys where he can bring energy every day, which is really amazing. But saying that, he gets beat up so much. Sometimes the day game after the night game might be really helpful for him.”
As The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosencrans notes, De La Cruz joked in response that “he’d fight” Francona to play every day.
The renewed desire to keep De La Cruz rested and healthy appears to have started immediately. The 24-year-old confirmed that he will be skipping the upcoming World Baseball Classic at the team’s request:
“It was the team’s choice. I was dealing with the quad (injury), and they didn’t want me to play. I want to play. I want to represent my country. But I believe in the team. I definitely want to play (in the WBC) in the future.”
Even without De La Cruz, the Dominican Republic heads into the World Baseball Classic as one of the likely favorites, alongside the United States and Japan. The team still looks likely to have some combination of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ketel Marte, Junior Caminero, Geraldo Perdomo, Manny Machado, and José Ramírez in the infield.
De La Cruz Turned Down a Massive Extension Offer
Cincinnati made an aggressive contract extension offer to De La Cruz that he declined last spring, according to a separate report from Rosecrans. No specifics are mentioned about the offer, but it reportedly would have topped the club-record 10-year, $225 million extension signed by Joey Votto in 2012.
It’s unclear why De La Cruz turned down the offer or if the team will re-engage him about an extension. Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall didn’t appear to rule out the possibility of a deal for him or another of the team’s younger players:
“We made Elly an offer that would’ve made him the highest-paid Red ever. That’s not where he is and you respect that. It’s their career. You keep going and you keep working on what you can do today.
“We’ve got a lot of guys on this club that are impact players that have a chance to be impact players. Hunter took a deal and that was great. We love having him and he’s an anchor starter for us. We’ve had a lot of conversations over the years, it’s got to work out on both parties.”
Cincinnati doesn’t need to rush to lock De La Cruz up to a long-term deal. He won’t reach arbitration until after the 2026 season and won’t be eligible for free agency until after 2029.
Reds Ironman Shortstop to Skip WBC, Declined Massive Extension Offer