Elly's ascent gets a boost from superstar Soto
Mark Sheldon
@m_sheldonGOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Young Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz appears to have his offseason priorities in order as he heads into his second season. He made time for fun but also got in much-needed work in an effort to make hitting improvements.
A key bridge to the 22-year-old's work-life balance? None other than Juan Soto.
The Yankees’ superstar outfielder and De La Cruz practically grew up together in the Dominican Republic, and both did their development as teenagers at the Niche Baseball Academy.
In December, the two were together in Miami shortly after the 25-year-old Soto was traded from the Padres to the Yankees. They watched the Dolphins play the Titans on Monday Night Football from a private suite at Hard Rock Stadium. Back home in their country, the two also worked out together and did some hitting.
"The biggest thing we were working on was just hitting off the tee and hitting to the opposite way," De La Cruz said on Wednesday, via translator Jorge Merlos.
That was on top of the work De La Cruz has done under the direction of Reds hitting coach Joel McKeithan. Manager David Bell had no issue with De La Cruz getting outside help from someone like Soto.
“I don’t know him, but I felt good about that because that’s peer to peer and those kinds of relationships can go a long way," Bell said. "People that you respect and can learn from. Obviously [Soto] has been a great player, and he’s still really young.”
De La Cruz batted .235 with a .710 OPS, 13 home runs, 44 RBIs and 35 steals in 98 games as a rookie in 2023. The less-than-stellar numbers came after a meteoric first 30 games as the switch-hitter and five-tool talent became a baseball sensation.
The Reds put together an offseason plan for De La Cruz. Bell deferred the baseball work goals to his coaches, but he and his bench coach, Freddie Benavides, spent time making sure De La Cruz’s life remained in proper order.
“Elly had a lot that he dealt with, a lot that was thrown at him in Year 1," Bell said. "How is he handling that? What does his offseason look like? What is he spending his time on? Is he recovering? Is he getting stronger? Is he taking care of himself? Are his priorities in line? That was my role.”
Bell's questions were satisfied upon talking with De La Cruz at Redsfest in December and from updates via McKeithan.
“For any Major League player, there is a lot coming at you," Bell said. "But when you’re Elly and you got off to a start like he did, I don’t know how he even made it through the end of the year. But he did. I think it was a great experience. There was a lot to learn from it. Just setting up his schedule in a way that he was able to prioritize baseball and being the best player that he can be.”
Hitting-wise, an approach change began under McKeithan’s guidance.
“We’ve been doing a lot of changes in the Dominican," De La Cruz said. "Sometimes, you realize that you need to do some changes and you try to fix those. We have this new style that we’re working with, and we’re going to try it out in Spring Training and see how well it works.”
Among the changes was reducing De La Cruz's leg kick -- both as a lefty and righty hitter -- and being more patient on pitches.
“The best thing he’s been teaching me is to just stay back and wait for the ball as long as possible. We’ve been working really well," De La Cruz said.
De La Cruz declined to characterize that he was physically out of gas in the second half of the ’23 season while struggling both offensively and defensively. He maintained his usual offseason strength and conditioning.
"I feel like this offseason, I’ve been able to work really hard to have enough to play all 162 [games]," he said.
On Tuesday, the club revealed that it plans to have De La Cruz focus defensively mostly at shortstop. He also played third base last season.
“Obviously, I’d love to play shortstop full time, but if there’s another place the team needs me to play, I’ll be able to do that," De La Cruz said.