Reds president reveals Elly De La Cruz played through partially torn quad

Elly De La Cruz’s second-half swoon might now have an explanation.

Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said on Wednesday night during a “Reds Hot Stove League” appearance that the 23-year-old was dealing with a partial torn quad.

“I think a lot of people don’t know this, towards the end of July he was dealing with a partial torn quad,” Krall said. “He has been rehabbing (this offseason). He was at the ballpark today. To his credit, he played every day. He tried to grind through it. He tried to play through it. If you look at his defensive numbers, he made 12 errors towards the end of July when he got hurt and then he made 14 from the end of July on.”

Elly De La Cruz flips his bat after being walked to score Miguel Andujar during the eighth inning of the Reds’ 10-5 loss to the Dodgers on Sept. 30, 2025 in Los Angeles. Getty Images

The two-time All-Star shortstop had a strong first half when he hit .286/.367/.474 with 18 home runs and 25 stolen bases.

Neverthless, across the final 65 games, De La Cruz’s production took a palpable slide. He held just a .666 OPS with four home runs, 21 total extra-base hits and stole 12 bases — attempting just 14 steals.

He finished with 37 stolen bases, a far cry from the MLB-leading 67 he totaled in 2024.

Krall said the injury likely affected the speedster both offensively and defensively, but gave De La Cruz kudos for gutting it out as the Reds made the playoffs as the final National League wild-card entrant over the collapsing Mets.

“He wasn’t able to do it [quad tear] as successful as possible,” Krall said. “He had a stretch of games where he hit 19 homers and then he did not hit one until some point in September. That is going to affect him. That is going to affect everything he does.

“But, to his credit, he was trying to play every single day through it.”