Reds president discloses real reason for Elly De La Cruz's shortcomings in 2025 season

Having made his big league debut in 2023, Elly De La Cruz has gone on to establish himself as one of the Cincinnati Reds' most influential players, and one of the most exciting talents in the majors.

Having put in a strong showing in 2024, De La Cruz burst out of the blocks in 2025, earning his second consecutive All-Star selection after an impressive first half. In the second half of the season, however, things slowed down a touch for the Dominican.

On Sunday's episode of "Front Office Insights," Cincinnati Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall revealed why that was the case. Further, he shed some light on the work Elly De La Cruz has been doing behind the scenes this offseason, to ensure he continues improving.

"You know, one of the things that no one really knew, he was dealing with a quad strain from the end of July till the end of the season," Krall said. "It affected him offensively, it affected him defensively. I think he stayed on 19 home runs for about eight weeks, he made fourteen errors towards the end of the year. If you look at what he did in the beginning of the season, he was really good. "He's making improvements, he continues to make improvements. He was in Cincinnati this offsesaon until last week, and (then) he went home for the holidays. He really wants to be a great player and he drives himself. He prides himself in playing 162 games. But, as we saw, we're going to have to figure out where to give him days off throughout the course of the season."

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Reds legend claims Elly De La Cruz can go down as "one of the greatest to ever do it" in the organization's history

Ever since Elly De La Cruz made his major league debut, Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famer Sean Casey has often admitted his admiration for the Dominican's abilities. In a YouTube video he uploaded to his channel in mid-July, Casey spoke about how De La Cruz could go down as one of the Reds' best-ever players, if he realizes his potential.

"The Cincinnati Reds fans, you know, are the best in the game as far as like, you know, just some of the greatest players that have ever played this amazing game of baseball," Casey said (Timestamp: 16:09). "And Elly De La Cruz could go down as one of those guys, you know, one of those guys where you're like, man, this guy is one of the greatest to ever do it."

Milwaukee Brewers v Cincinnati Reds - Source: Getty

This year, Elly De La Cruz helped the Reds make the playoffs for the first time since 2020, and fans will hope to see him continue leading the team to success in 2026.

Edited by Raghav Mehta