Elly De La Cruz no longer looks like Reds’ best player

Elly De La Cruz has put together an All-Star season in 2025, and become one of the most recognizable faces in the game today. But is De La Cruz really the Cincinnati Reds best player?

If you were to ask this question about a month ago, the answer would be resounding, yes. The Reds' shortstop seemed to hit his stride midway through the month of June and rode that wave until the All-Star break.

From June 1 through July 13, De La Cruz was hitting .336/.415/.586 with an impressive 11.9% walk rate, a meager 18.2% strikeout rate, and a 167 wRC+. Combined with the first two months of the 2025 season, De La Cruz was hitting .284/.359/.495 and was far and away Cincinnati's best player.

But a lot has changed over the last month. Since the Midsummer Classic, De La Cruz has fallen off a cliff. While it's possible that a lingering quad injury could be partially to blame, he'd been dealing with that issue before the All-Star break. Since July 18, De La Cruz is hitting .245/.308/.350 with a 28.2% strikeout rate and a 76 wRC+.

Elly De La Cruz no longer looks like Reds’ best player — Noelvi Marte does

During that same span, another Reds player has been on fire. Noelvi Marte is hitting .302/.328/.481 with four home runs, 17 RBI, and a 119 wRC+ since the All-Star break. Though Marte's 1.5% walk rate during that stretch is not appealing at all, it's hard to ignore how effective he's been of late.

If you look at Marte's line since he officially took over as the Reds' starting right fielder, he's hitting .322/.337/.522 with a 132 wRC+. A number of observers have remarked about how comfortable Marte has looked at the plate since moving from third base to the outfield. Even Terry Francona has placed increased confidence in Marte and has moved him up to No. 2 in the batting order.

De La Cruz is one of the most exciting and talented players in Major League Baseball. But there are still parts of his game that are unrefined. Marte, however, seems to have put the PED suspension and last year's struggles in the rearview mirror and is excelling during the second-half of the 2025 season.

Ideally, the Reds would love to have both De La Cruz and Marte firing on all cylinders during the final month of the season. The Reds West Coast road trip has proven to be quite difficult, and Cincinnati is losing ground in the chase for the final spot in the NL Wild Card. The Reds need De La Cruz to return to form, or they can kiss their playoff hopes goodbye.

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