CINCINNATI — Elly De La Cruz hopes to represent his home country of the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic at some point, but it won’t be in 2026.

At this weekend’s Redsfest, De La Cruz said he wanted to participate in the WBC, but the Cincinnati Reds didn’t give him permission to play.

“It was the team’s choice. I was dealing with the quad (injury), and they didn’t want me to play,” De La Cruz said. “I want to play. I want to represent my country. But I believe in the team. I definitely want to play (in the WBC) in the future.”

De La Cruz, who turned 24 on Sunday, played in all 162 games for the Reds last season but spent the second half of the season dealing with a quad injury, something that hampered his production.

In his All-Star-worthy first half, De La Cruz hit .284/.359/.495 with 18 home runs and 25 stolen bases. In the second half, he hit .236/.303/.363 with four home runs and 12 steals. De La Cruz went 30 games without a home run from June 24 to July 30, and after hitting his 19th home run of the season on July 31, he didn’t hit his 20th until Sept. 19.

Friday, De La Cruz said the quad has healed this offseason.

At the Winter Meetings last month, Reds manager Terry Francona said he needed to find ways to keep De La Cruz fresh.

“I didn’t do a very good job of that, and I own up to that,” Francona said. “I love the fact that he wants to play, and he’s one of the rare guys where he can bring energy every day, which is really amazing. But saying that, he gets beat up so much. Sometimes the day game after the night game might be really helpful for him.”

De La Cruz joked that he’d “fight” Francona to play every day.

“If he makes that decision, there’s nothing I can do about it,” De La Cruz said. “Maybe we can fight and see who wins.”

Although it was obvious throughout the second half of the season that De La Cruz wasn’t the same dynamic player he’s been throughout his career, he has steadfastly refused to use his health to explain his struggles.

“I don’t have an excuse for how my season was,” De La Cruz said.

That said, he said it was a learning experience.

“What I learned is that I have to take care of myself before the game, after the game, in the field, outside of the field — everywhere. I take responsibility for myself.”

Reds closer Emilio Pagán, a member of Puerto Rico’s WBC teams in 2017 and 2023, said he is not participating in the tournament this year either. Pagán, who was second in the National League with 32 saves in 2025, signed a two-year, $20 million free-agent deal with the Reds in December.