Reds have a star in Elly De La Cruz but one final leap to attain superstardom remains

The Cincinnati Reds already have the kind of player other franchises spend a decade trying to draft, develop, and manifest through vibes: Elly De La Cruz. He’s a nightly highlight reel with cheat-code athleticism.

But “star” and “superstar” aren’t the same thing — and the gap between them is smaller than it looks. It’s not about Elly needing a new tool. He’s got the tools. It’s about him turning the same tools into the same results more often. The last leap is consistency: fewer empty at-bats and fewer avoidable defensive giveaways.

Elly De La Cruz’s biggest Reds breakthrough is still waiting

Let's begin in the batters’ box. Elly improved upon that as he took a step forward from 2024 to 2025, his strikeout rate fell from 31.3% to 25.9%. This is important as it’s tough to be a force on a week-to-week basis when you are living in constant two-strike counts. Unfortunately, the drop strikeouts did not bring an increase in “superstardom” power production; Elly hit 22 home runs in 2025, which was down from the 25 he hit the year prior. His walk rate also remained relatively consistent (9.6% to 9.9%).

So the next step isn’t just “strike out less.” It’s strike out less while doing more damage. That means more authoritative contact in the zone. The Statcast quality-of-contact profile still screams impact — but the superstar version of Elly turns that impact into loud production more consistently. 

Then there’s shortstop. This is the part that’s simultaneously fixable and frustrating, because it’s not about range or arm talent. It’s the routine stuff. For the second straight year, De La Cruz led the majors in errors with 26, and the Reds have basically said out loud what everyone watching already knows: too many are coming on plays that should be automatic. The breakdown is ugly: a steep drop in defensive value year-over-year, and the errors splitting into both fielding and throwing mistakes. 

Here’s the good news for Cincinnati: the plan sounds like the right one. Keep him at short, tighten the “internal clock,” and — maybe most importantly — manage the wear and tear better so he’s not dragging through the back half. The Reds have indicated there’s no position change coming, and the emphasis is on cleaning up the mechanics and the routine plays. 

Because if the Reds are going to turn a “fun young core” into a “legit October threat,” they need Elly to be more than electricity. They need him to be reliability plus electricity. Cut the strikeouts a bit more, make the routine plays routine, and suddenly you’re not talking about a star anymore. You’re talking about one of the faces of the league.