When the Cincinnati Reds take infield practice, it sometimes gets loud.
“You stink!” one infielder might yell to another after a misplay.
“That’s one!” another might shout because, yes, the players are keeping score.
The competition is all in good fun, said Freddie Benavides, the Reds’ coach responsible for hitting the grounders. But the daily quest for perfection among the infielders is helping shortstop Elly De Cruz sharpen his defense and develop into an MVP candidate even though he is still only 24.
The rules of the game are simple. Botch a grounder, make a poor throw, pay every other infielder $20. Well, every other infielder except second baseman Matt McLain, who is allowed to participate only on occasion, third baseman Eugenio Suárez said, because his throw to first is “too easy.”
De La Cruz, in his third full season, is thriving not only under the tutelage of Suárez, the game’s leading “Good Vibes Only” practitioner, but also that of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, one of the sport’s top defenders whom the Reds acquired last July.
No longer simply a Statcast monster, De La Cruz is evolving into one of the sport’s best all-around players. Rather than just chase metrics, he’s chasing results.
De La Cruz, who declined comment for this story, still hits the ball harder and throws it harder than just about any other position player. His maximum exit velocity of 116.3 mph is in the top one percent of the league. His average exit velocity of 94 mph is in the top four percent. He also has four of the top five fastest-tracked throws by an infielder since 2015, including one at 101 mph.
The introduction of such information in the past decade has changed the way some baseball people and even fans view players, increasing the emphasis on physical tools. Statcast achievements create viral moments, circulated to great fanfare on social media. The elite players, though, are the ones who learn to navigate the day-to-day grind, and maintain a high level of performance over 162 games.
The process is not simple.
For most players, it takes time. But Reds people rave not only about the player De La Cruz is becoming, but also about how he is making himself into that player. Through getting proper rest. Refining his pregame routines. Focusing on his individual game in a team concept while continuing to play every day.
“On the other side, it was always like, ‘OK, he’s such a dynamic player.’ It’s explosive. It’s spurts of, ‘Oh my gosh, he hit that ball so hard.’ Or, ‘Wow, he was first to third in seven steps,’ blah, blah, blah,” said Reds first baseman/DH Nathaniel Lowe, who is in his first year with the club. “It was always like the highlight type plays.
“But the more I’m around him now, he understands the consistency is what’s going to make him great. The highs are obviously really high. But his lows need to be at a higher standard if he’s going to be the No. 1 shortstop when it’s time to get paid.”
That day is not likely to come anytime soon.
Under baseball’s current labor rules, De La Cruz is not eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season. The chances of him signing a contract extension with the Reds, meanwhile, are almost nonexistent. De La Cruz, represented by Scott Boras, turned down a contract offer in the spring of 2025 that would have exceeded the club record, 10-year, $225 million extension Joey Votto signed in 2012.
Until he hits the open market, all De La Cruz can do is continue elevating his play. His growth isn’t just reflected in his five straight multi-hit games, his .295 batting average, 10 home runs and .876 OPS, or even by his rank in fWAR, which was fifth among position players prior to Wednesday. It’s reflected in the way he is playing the game.
De La Cruz led the majors with 67 stolen bases in 2024. This season, he has only nine, and the Reds are fine with it.
“He’s not trying to steal bases just to steal bases,” Reds general manager Nick Krall said. “He’s trying to steal bases but to be safe in good situations.”
A year ago, De La Cruz ranked 26th among shortstops in Outs Above Average. This season, he is tied for third. His feet are quicker. His internal clock is better. His throws are more accurate.
“He’s not really so much worried about the metrics of throwing the ball 100 (mph) anymore,” Hayes said. “He’s just getting outs.”
Offensively, too, De La Cruz is making strides, silencing talk that he needs to stop switch-hitting by improving dramatically from the right side.
“He’s maturing,” Reds manager Terry Francona said recently on The Athletic’s “Starkville” podcast. “It’s not that he was immature, but when you start to get 1,000-1,200 at-bats, good players start to get better, start to figure it out. The game slows down a little bit.”
De La Cruz recently surpassed 1,800 at-bats in the majors, and, yes, part of his development is simply the byproduct of experience. Defensively, though, it might also be the byproduct of his reluctance to pay each of his fellow infielders $20 if he makes a mistake in practice.
Suárez, 34, said he created the infield competition with Votto and shortstop Zack Cozart during his first stint with the Reds from 2015 to ‘20. He then brought it to the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks and back to the Mariners again before reviving it with the Reds, even though he re-signed with them in February mostly to be a DH.
Hayes, a two-time Gold Glove winner, would appear the obvious favorite among the Reds’ current group, but said the payouts “are all still pretty even, for the most part.” Suárez disputed that, saying recently, “To be honest, I’m the only guy who has not missed one yet. They don’t like when I yell at them in front of everybody, ‘Pay my money! Pay my money!’ They get mad at me.”
But seriously, Geno, about Elly…
“I want him to be focused, not miss one,” Suárez said. “Compete in practice, do that in the game.”
Make no mistake, De La Cruz will always be defined by his knack for the spectacular, whether Statcast captures it or or not.
“He’s a great player, man,” Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. “He can change any game, in any aspect.”
On April 28, in a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, De La Cruz took over as only he can, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two stolen bases and a defensive play that left both his teammates and opponents dumbfounded.
The play happened in the second inning, with the Rockies’ Tyler Freeman on first base. Kyle Karros hit a high bouncer deep into the shortstop hole. Hayes moved to his left and leapt for the ball, only to see it bound over his head.
Racing into the hole, behind Hayes, De La Cruz fielded a short hop on his backhand. His momentum carried him toward the third base line for three steps. He then turned and threw across his body to nail Karros at first.
“Out of the box, I thought Hayes would snag it,” Karros said. “Once it got over his head, that’s a hit all day in my book. Elly grabs it and, ‘I’m like dang that’s a hell of a play, but he ain’t making that throw.’
“He made the throw.”
To Reds backup catcher Jose Trevino, the physical aspects of the play — De La Cruz getting to the ball, gloving it and firing it to Sal Stewart at first — weren’t the most impressive part.
Upon completing his throw, De La Cruz continued on to third to cover the bag. Hayes was out of position after moving into the hole, creating a potential opening for Freeman to advance. De La Cruz closed off that possibility.
“Woah,” Trevino told his teammates in the dugout, “that’s pretty good.”
Two days later, De La Cruz made another jaw-dropping play, sprinting from shortstop to the other side of the second-base bag, then diving for a grounder by the Rockies’ TJ Rumfield and retiring him at first.
Before the league restricted infield shifts in 2023, shortstops often occupied the spot where De La Cruz fielded the ball. The new limits stifle most players. De La Cruz’s range is so vast, he effectively plays outside the lines.
“I’ve never seen somebody throw somebody out from short right field being the shortstop,” Francona said.
Trevino still talks about a spring training game in 2025, his first season with the Reds. He had spent the previous three years with the New York Yankees, the last of those as teammates with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, two of the game’s biggest stars. And on the front end of a double steal, De La Cruz showed why he was special in his own way.
As De La Cruz took off for third, the catcher threw behind him, trying to get the runner heading to second. Nothing unusual there. But by the time the second baseman tagged the runner, De La Cruz already was rounding third, coming home.
“The second baseman gets up, looks at home and Elly is already sliding,” Trevino recalled. “I was like, ‘What just happened?’ There was no throw at all. I had never seen that before.”
Yet, in the Reds’ dugout, hardly anyone reacted.
“I was like, ‘Guys, no one is going to say anything about that?’ That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Trevino recalled. “Everyone in the dugout was like, ‘Get ready, we see that all the time. That won’t be the coolest thing you’ll see.’”
Sure enough, it wasn’t.
But De La Cruz’s unique talent creates unique challenges for him as a player, leaving him both blessed and cursed. He is capable of so much that he risks becoming a prisoner of his own gifts, creating expectations for the atypical to become the norm.
“Elly’s always gonna have to battle. His tools are so exceptional, people say, ‘Well, this is what he could be, or this is what he can do,’” Francona said. “I just keep telling him, ‘Just play the game right, and in the confines of playing the game right, your tools are gonna show through.’”
Krall, the Reds’ GM, remembers the talk from two years ago. Elly can’t hit batting right-handed. Elly should stop switch-hitting. At the time, De La Cruz was just 22. The Reds were not about to abandon him holding the platoon advantage in every plate appearance when he was still so young.
Even last season, De La Cruz’s splits were massive, .850 from the left side, .618 from the right. This season, though, he has hit better right-handed. And while mechanics are part of it — De La Cruz has kept the leg kick he restored in the final two weeks of 2025, replacing the toe tap he used most of the season — the bigger change is in his approach.
Not in his body. In his mind.
“From the right side, honestly, there hasn’t been a ton of intervention with the swing,” said Reds hitting coach Chris Valaika, who is in his second year with the club. “It’s been very tactical. It’s been looking to be on the attack from pitch one. Being a little more intentful with what he’s looking for and going up there to get your swing off.”
Valaika said De La Cruz would fall into a pattern from the right side last season, getting behind in counts, then hitting a lot of groundballs. This season, he has hit five of his 10 homers batting right-handed. Only Yordan Alvarez and Jo Adell have hit more home runs against left-handed pitching. And all five of De La Cruz’s homers have been within the first four pitches of his at-bat.
Overall, De La Cruz’s OPS is 1.015 versus left-handed pitchers, .829 against righties. He is on pace to hit 38 home runs, 13 more than his career-high. Which is where the return of his leg kick, from both sides of the plate, comes in.
After leading the majors with 218 strikeouts in 2024, De La Cruz ditched his leg kick for a toe tap at the start of last season, simplifying his move, allowing him to see the ball better. The adjustment worked. He hit 18 home runs before the All-Star break and also reduced his strikeout rate, from his previous 32 percent career mark to 24 percent.
His numbers, though, fell off after the break. Physically and emotionally, it was a difficult time. De La Cruz played through a left quad strain. He also was dealing with the loss of his older sister, Genelis, who died last May 31 after prolonged health issues.
In the final two weeks, De La Cruz went back to the leg kick and again got hot. Over the winter, Valaika said the Reds challenged him to stay more aggressive. His strikeout rate has increased slightly as a result. But so has his power.
“It’s a more athletic and more dynamic move from him,” Valaika said. “The strides he made with controlling the strike zone last year have, in turn, allowed him to get back to the leg kick. He has better plate discipline and can really tap into the special things that he does.”
De La Cruz’s improved plate discipline shows not only in his walk rate, which is right around league average, but in his overall selectivity. His swing rate is at a career-low.
Twice in four games at the start of the month, he struck out looking. To Lowe, it actually was a sign of progress.
De La Cruz had a plan.
“He’s ok sacrificing at-bats, instead of just, ‘OK, I’m just going to swing at everything,’” Lowe said. “If he’s punching out looking, he’s committing to something.
“He’s not just out there playing bottle cap broom ball. Which he could probably do and still hit .250 with 25 homers. But he understands the more mature he is at the plate, the more he commits to his pitch, his process long-run definitely is going to pay off.”
Suárez and Benavides both use the same word to describe De La Cruz: “Coachable.” But earlier this season, Suárez issued the younger player a warning.
“You sometimes feel comfortable with yourself. But don’t be too comfortable,” Suárez said. “When you’re too comfortable, that’s when you create bad habits.”
Suárez isn’t necessarily worried that will happen. He likes that De La Cruz listens, pays attention and asks questions. And if De La Cruz’s sheer desire to play is any indication, he does not appear the type to grow complacent.
Since his debut on June 6, 2023, De La Cruz has appeared in 463 of the Reds’ 469 games, or 98.7 percent. He was out of the lineup last June 6 when he was returning from the Dominican Republic, where he was mourning the death of his sister, and his flight was canceled. The game was suspended and he pinch-hit in the eighth inning and finished at shortstop when it resumed. The last game he missed entirely was on July 29, 2024.
At last year’s Winter Meetings, Francona talked about giving De La Cruz an occasional break, saying, “I didn’t do a very good job of that (last season), and I own up to that.”
But De La Cruz, thus far, has started every game. Upon getting removed from a 17-7 loss in Pittsburgh on May 2, Francona said, “he looked like he wanted to smack me in the head.”
“I was around last year when he wasn’t 100 percent. And he was like, ‘Nope, I’m ready to go,’” Trevino said. “There are no breaks with this guy. Your star player, the guy heading the spear of this organization, he’s out there every single day.”
Stardom can be intoxicating, particularly for a player as young as De La Cruz. But his ego appears to be in check, even as he recognizes his stature is growing.
De La Cruz knows people are watching him and understands his influence on others, Trevino said. In a recent game, he wore two different cleats. Trevino said the next time his son’s team plays in a tournament, he would not be surprised to see the entire team team doing the same.
Such is De La Cruz’s allure.
“He’s such a positive, happy person that people want to gravitate toward him,” Valaika said. “He’s so confident in his own way. But you wouldn’t know it with how he carries himself, how he talks to people. It’s not this chest out, I’m bigger than anybody.”
What, then, is De La Cruz’s ceiling? How much better a player can he be? And what might he earn when he becomes a free agent after the 2029 season, a question the Reds and their fans would prefer not to entertain? No matter what baseball’s next labor agreement looks like, De La Cruz seems a reasonable bet to surpass Francisco Lindor’s record deal for a shortstop, 10 years and $341 million.
He isn’t anywhere close to that yet. This season, as he awaits his first crack at arbitration, he’s earning $800,000. But the expectation around the Reds is that De La Cruz’s value as a player is only going to grow, and not simply as a reflection of his service time.
He wants to improve. He wants to be great.
“I don’t think there are many more strides he can take with how athletic he is, how dynamic he is in the box, the crazy things he can do,” Valaika said. “It’s just going to be the continued maturity. Learning the strike zone. Continuing to be stubborn with what he wants to do. Having the history with the league to say, ‘I faced this guy 15 times. I faced that guy 20 times. I know what he’s going to try to do to me.’ That’s the next step.”
The Reds see it coming in their $20 infield competitions, in De La Cruz’s daily preparation and in his dedication to his routines. He isn’t trying to break Statcast, though heaven knows it might happen. He’s trying to help his team win.
“Every day he’s closer to being the complete player,” Lowe said. “Every day he’s closer to being the shortstop.”
As in, the best in the game.
— The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans and Jayson Stark contributed to this story