The Reds Are Stuck in Limbo Until Elly Takes the Next Step

Elly De La Cruz is a star, but until he graduates to superstardom, the Reds lineup will be lacking.

Elly De La Cruz is a baseball unicorn.  His combination of power, speed, and arm strength are unprecedented.  Calling him a five-tool player is a disservice – those aren’t tools Elly is carrying, they’re lethal weapons.

In just his third season in the MLB, Elly has become a full-blown star.  His shine is somewhat mitigated by the mediocre shadow cast by the Cincinnati Reds organization, but ability to do everything, be anything, captures the imagination of baseball fans everywhere.  It’s what made him the cover athlete of the baseball video game MLB The Show 2025. His potential is supernatural.

All of this is true.  And it’s still not good enough.

The Reds are stuck in an awkward position.  They’re a few games over .500, a few games back of the final wild-card spot, and a few more games back in the NL Central race.  Their starting pitching is excellent, their bullpen is okay, and their lineup is…not cutting it.  Add that all together and you get a pretty average baseball team.

For some things in life, average is okay.  When you go to McDonald’s, getting an average hamburger is perfectly acceptable.  When you cue up a random movie on Netflix, you’re happy enough that you didn’t hate it.  On the contrary, that’s not how that works when it comes to baseball teams.  The Reds are average.  They aren't hacking it, pardon the pun.

The same, though, can be said about Elly.

In fairness, Elly has been better than average, though not by the colossal margin you’d expect from a player with his colossal talent.  Elly is in the midst of his finest season, no doubt.  His numbers are better across the board – he’s making more contact and hitting for more power. He's more selective at the plate and striking out less. He hasn't been as prolific stealing bases this year, but his baserunning is still a major advantage to the Reds.

So, why has his season felt…lacking?

Perhaps that's not entirely fair. He's a better player than he was last year. He's been getting better every year. But for all of his prodigious gifts, the total feels like it is slightly less than the sum of his parts.

Elly is still very young – he turned 23 in January – but compared to some of his peers, he hasn't quite taken the next step to super-stardom.  He’s a great player, but hasn’t become the game-changer that most Reds fans expected when he burst onto the scene in 2023.  Among National League hitters, he isn’t in the top-ten in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, home runs, or wins above replacement (WAR).

Of course, Elly’s youth is a factor.  He’s not a finished product, and expecting him to be when he hasn’t even finished three full seasons in the MLB is as unrealistic as watching Braveheart and thinking that’s exactly how the Scottish War of Independence happened.

What is concerning, though, is the number of Elly’s peers who have matched – and surpassed – his production.  23-year-old Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs has had himself a monster season, mashing 25 home runs while playing outstanding defense in center field, producing an NL-leading 5.2 WAR and helping to lead the Cubs to their current status as the leaders in the NL Central.  James Wood of the Washington Nationals might not be on a competitive baseball team, but that’s hardly his fault as he’s clubbed 24 home runs and generated a 4.4 WAR in just his second season in the Bigs at age 22.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

24-year-old Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks produced a 5+ WAR season back in 2023 when he was just 22 and helped lead the Diamondbacks to a World Series appearance, and he’s well on his way to another 5+ WAR season in 2025.  Baltimore’s 24-year-old Gunnar Henderson has already produced two 6+ WAR seasons.  Even 23-year-old rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson, who plays for the anonymous Athletics (yes, they’re just the Athletics this year after saying bye-bye to Oakland) is currently having a better season than Elly.  I could keep going.

This isn’t meant to be critical of Elly.  He’s playing well, and his shortcomings get smaller and smaller every year.  Instead, this is meant to illustrate the problem the Reds currently face as they attempt to make it back to the postseason: the hitting isn’t good enough, and it probably won’t ever be good enough unless Elly becomes that player we all hoped and dreamed he’d become.

Look around the National League – some of these lineups are stacked.  The Los Angeles Dodgers feature no less than six hitters having better years than Elly.  The Cubs have three.  The Mets and the Padres each have one with others right on Elly’s heels.  The next-best option the Reds can provide beyond Elly is…TJ Friedl?

Even with as great as the Reds’ pitching has been this year (and no question, it has been phenomenal, especially the starters), winning games requires scoring runs, and runs have been hard to come by in Cincinnati.  It’s wonderful that the Reds have assembled a starting rotation that can compete with anybody, but there’s a fatal flaw in that strategy – namely, starting pitchers tend to get hurt.  Case in point: Hunter Greene, who was having a career-year before being sidelined twice with a groin injury.

If there’s one constant in baseball, it’s pitchers ending up on the Injured List.  Hitting, by and large, is the most consistent aspect of a team year to year.  The Reds have a roster that’s built like glass: shiny and pretty when polished, but easily broken and without all that much pressure.

Elly, though, can be the difference.  He has to be.  If the Reds are finally going to make some noise in October and beyond, there is no other choice.

Elly is the guy on the roster who could be MVP one day.  Matt McLain and Noelvi Marté could be potential All-Stars, but it’s Elly who has the potential to be truly feared.  He’s the one player the Reds have who can hold a candle to Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto or Ronald Acuña Jr. For the Reds to take the leap, they’ll need their young star to do the same.  If Elly can deliver on his promise, the Reds will finally make their way out of limbo.