Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Homers twice in spring debut
Rotowire
De La Cruz went 2-for-2 with two solo home runs in Saturday's split-squad game against the Guardians.
Not only did he homer twice, De La Cruz homered from both sides of the plate in his first Cactus League game of 2025. The 23-year-old is coming off an electric sophomore season in which he hit 25 homers with a league-leading 67 steals, and he tweaked his batting stance this winter to help address lingering swing-and-miss concerns. While he brings more batting-average volatility than most in the first-round draftees, the counting-stat upside is undeniable.
De La Cruz has tweaked his batting stance in hopes that it will help him cut down on strikeouts, Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie's Chalkboard reports.
De La Cruz has opened up his stance a bit and is standing taller at the plate, with the goal of "being more in control with his forward movement," per Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika. The switch-hitting De La Cruz led the majors with 218 strikeouts in 2024, though he sported a respectable .259 average thanks to his quality of contact, speed and .359 BABIP. He could regress a bit in the average department in 2025 if he doesn't cut down on the swings and misses, but De La Cruz can still be elite in fantasy even if his average slips because he contributes so much elsewhere.
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Reds' Elly De La Cruz: Focused on reducing strikeouts
Rotowire
De La Cruz said Friday that he wants to cut down on strikeouts this season, Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports.
De La Cruz is massively talented, but the 23-year-old shortstop has been prone to mistakes. He led MLB in strikeouts (218) and is working with new hitting coach Chris Valaika to improve in that area. Reds manager Terry Francona envisions De La Cruz improving in other areas, too. The dynamic infielder also led the majors in errors (29), times caught stealing (16) and non-stealing outs on the bases (15). Francona spoke about the growth of young players in general as they get more at-bats. "With young players as they accumulate at-bats, they get to that 1,200, you see them grow," the skipper said, noting how the game slows down for players. "It just makes it easier to make better decisions. That's what we want to do." De La Cruz enters the season with 1,006 career at-bats, which puts him in line to test Francona's theory in 2025.
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