Why a Reds Coach Is Confident in Elly De La Cruz's Next Step

Spring Training is approaching quickly. On Wednesday, Cincinnati Reds bench coach Freddie Benavides joined The Stone Shields Show and discussed a number of different topics.

He was asked specifically about De La Cruz's defense and how he can clean up his errors on routine plays.

"Well the key is for him is to be as consistent as possible," Benavides said. "The work that he does pregame and the work that he does in the offseason. This is a guy who really improved over the first half of the season last year."

Benavides mentioned De La Cruz's quad injury definitely played a part in his defense struggling down the stretch.

"I know he dealt with a lot of injuries this past year, which limited his range and the way he went about his business, and his daily prep. This is a guy who really, really improved. I know he had a tough couple of weeks in August defensively, that everyone put him down, but he was on his way to playing really unbelievable. Just go back and look at history at a lot of great players, their first couple of years, there were a lot of errors that were made, but they turn into great defenders."

De La Cruz had 29 errors in 2024 and 26 errors in 2025. He's been known to make spectacular plays, but has struggled with some of the more routine plays. If De La Cruz can continue to improve his defense, he could be in for a massive season.

You can see the full clip below:

Elly De La Cruz is a truly generational talent but needs to clean up his error numbers.

Freddie Benavides shares his thoughts.⤵️#Reds pic.twitter.com/Gxs9zGgZgK
— Chatterbox Sports (@CBoxSports) January 28, 2026