Terry Francona Reveals Key to Unlocking Elly De La Cruz's Superstar Ceiling

Reds skipper has nothing but belief in his shortstop.

Sep 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) warms up before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game one of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds are at the Winter Meetings trying to get the team ready to contend for a division title in 2026. Terry Francona made a guest appearance on MLB Network on Monday and discussed a myriad of subjects.

What Francona had to say about Elly De La Cruz was illuminating.

“One, I think I probably need to do a better job of finding days for him to get off his legs,” Francona told MLB Network Radio. “I respect how much he wants to play but I need to do a better job of monitoring that, and I will.”

De La Cruz played in every single game despite dealing with a noted quad injury, according to Reds President of Baseball Operations, Nick Krall. He saw a marked drop in performance after the reported date of his injury.

Krall marked late July as the time period of the injury. De La Cruz had a slash line of .221/.280/.341 with just three homers in the months of August and September. He also led the league in errors for the second year in a row, which has raised questions about the right position for him. 

Francona is convinced De La Cruz is fine at shortstop.

“He’s 23 years old. If we can get him to just be more consistent then we are looking at the best player in baseball. That’s our goal.”

That echoes the position of the Reds' front office. It doesn’t seem like there are any plans for De La Cruz to be anything but a shortstop in 2026.

He will be on a long list of Reds players expected to bounce back next year.

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