The Cincinnati Reds are learning to take the good with the bad with Elly De La Cruz. He's a solid hitter with elite speed and base-running acumen that electrifies an offense when he’s at the plate. The bad ... well he’s a bit inconsistent, and his errors at shortstop are piling up.
Cruz is only in his second full MLB season, so mishaps are destined to happen. Progress isn't always linear and all that. But this is a recurring issue from last year that the club probably hoped would have gotten cleaned up by now. Cruz is currently second in MLB in strikeouts and first in errors committed. Those are two categories you do not want to see your star player atop the leaderboard in.
It’s a sign that he’s struggling with consistency. Again, baseball is hard, so this shouldn’t be a major shock, but it doesn’t make it any better to know that you can’t rely on your star player as much. De La Cruz will have to get out of this slump at some point — if not for his sake, then for a Reds offense that really needs him.
Things may be calm now, but in the background, I’m sure they’re getting uneasy as the strikes and errors continue to pile up for a player with so much potential.
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot,our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Elly De La Cruz has to get more consistent if he wants to reach superstardom with Cincinnati Reds
Batting will always be up and down, but De La Cruz has to clean up his fielding errors at shortstop. He currently has nine errors, tied with Manny Machado for the most by a player this season and most for a shortstop. He also has the second-worst fielding percentage among shortstops in MLB.
Shortstop isn’t an easy position, but he has to clean up the mistakes. That’s partly why the Reds struggle with stringing together consistent win streaks. Often times the defense gets left behind due to the pressure on players to score runs. But De La Cruz is not helping himself with the glove.
The Reds might be able to accept some offensive inconsistencies if he was a brick wall at short. That’s not the case, though.
And offensively, only Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia has more strikeouts (71) than De La Cruz (63). That’s not good company to be in either. He has the third-highest batting average on the Reds’ roster, though his .242 average this season doesn’t put him in the conversation of elite hitters.
The Reds are learning to take the good with the bad. That’s probably starting to get frustrating because as the star, you should have far less bad than good. Right now, the good and the bad are canceling each other out for De La Cruz. He has to improve if he hopes to take that leap from star to superstar.