Reds Manager Terry Francona Doubles Down on Plan to Keep Elly De La Cruz Fresh

One thing is for certain, the Reds go as Elly De La Cruz goes. When he's healthy and playing his best baseball, the Reds are at their best.

One of manager Terry Francona's main talking points this offseason has been how he plans to keep De La Cruz fresh better than he did a year ago.

"His energy is really good," Francona told Foul Territory. "People forget Elly is young and still learning on the job. I think last year was good for him in the fact that he played hurt, he played every game. I don't think I did him a ton of favors. I need to manage that a little bit better this year and I will."

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When A. J. Pierzynski joked that Francona is already doing a better job, giving him the second Spring Training game off, Francona laughed and said they're preparing him for the season.

"I told him we were working on aggravating him," Francona joked. "He's a wonderful kid. This kid will do everything you ask. The thing we've tried to explain to him is with your tools, if you just do it in the confines of us winning a game, your tools are going to show through. And that is what we care about."

De La Cruz was fantastic in the first half of 2025, slashing .284/.359/.495 with 39 extra-base hits. In the second half, while he was dealing with a quad injury, his number declined substantially. He slashed just .236/.303./363 and hit just four home runs in 65 games after hitting 18 home runs in the first half of the season.

If De La Cruz can stay healthy and keep improving, Cincinnati's offense should be much improved.

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