Elly De La Cruz is chasing another lofty goal

Last Sunday, Terry Francona wanted to give Elly De La Cruz a little bit of a breather. Francona put De La Cruz in the designated hitter spot for the series finale in Detroit. Francona said, “I felt that he felt like he did something wrong.”

De La Cruz kept telling the manager, “I’m ok. I’m ok.”

Francona said, “I know you are. I’m just trying to give you a little help.”

De La Cruz went on to have three hits, including a homer, in an 8-4 win. After the game, Francona told De La Cruz, “I think you’d make a good DH.”

Francona said later, “I think I heard some Spanish curse words.”

Since the first week of spring training, De La Cruz has been vocal about his goal of playing every single day this year. He has done that so far, making 70 starts at shortstop, two at designated hitter and coming off the bench once. On the sole day this season that he came off the bench, he wasn’t available for the start of the game only because he had a return flight canceled from the Dominican Republic as he visited with his family following the tragic death of his sister.

De La Cruz was managing a quad injury at the end of May, and he played right through it. He hasn’t had a true day off yet this year.

“Part of me loves the fact that he wants to play every inning,” Francona said. “I really respect that. I actually love it. I don’t know if it’s the best thing for the player all the time. But unless a guy looks like he’s really dragging, my feeling is that if you give a guy a day every so often, it really helps them. He has not looked like he has needed it physically. So I don’t feel like there’s a reason to do it. If there ever comes a time, I’ll certainly do it whether he likes it or not.”

There aren’t a lot of players who actually get the chance to play every single day. First, you have to be good (or be on a team without much depth). You usually have to be right handed, or a switch hitter like De La Cruz, as managers often give left-handed hitters a break now and then against left-handed pitchers. You have to stay healthy, and you’ll likely have to battle through some nagging injuries.

Playing every single day has become a big point of pride for De La Cruz, and it’s also become something that he’s known for around MLB.

‘I get a lot of questions (about it),” De La Cruz said. “(Players) ask me a lot. They always say, ‘You play every day, so how do you prepare yourself for the game?’ I get a lot of questions.”

Last season, De La Cruz played in 160 games and made 159 starts. His ability to play just about every single day over the last two seasons is as impressive as his home run or stolen base totals.

“This game takes a toll on you, especially playing shortstop,” Connor Joe said. “People don’t realize how demanding that position is. He’s not only hitting the homers. He’s running the bases extremely hard. He’s playing defense extremely hard. All of those reps take a toll. To do what he’s doing is really impressive. I admire it. When someone is willing to strap it on and play every day and post and want to win for the team, it says a lot about the person has his character.”

At different points of their careers, a few Reds players have had stretches over a month-or-two where they’ve played every single day. That list includes Joe, Spencer Steer, Matt McLain, TJ Friedl, Garrett Hampson and Santiago Espinal.

They all say that playing every single day is really, really difficult.

“Dude, it’s tough,” Espinal said. “I get that (De La Cruz) is young. But it’s tough on your body. You have to take care of your body. You have to be mentally prepared to play every day.”

Hampson said, “There’s obviously the physical part of it. Everyone needs a day off to reset your body a bit. But you’ve got to really take pride in being on the field every day. It’s not easy mentally playing every single day and wanting to post in a 162-game season.”

Last year, four players appeared in all 162 games. Since 2000, just 10 shortstops have appeared in all 162 games. The most recent shortstop was Dansby Swanson in 2022.

“Everyone wants to (play all 162 games), but it’s really hard,” McLain said. “I don’t know how many guys do it every year. Maybe four? Five? How many stats in the league are there where there are only four guys who do it. It’s crazy. It’s respect. It’s a grind, and it’s really hard to do. It’s really cool to see him going for that.”

De La Cruz, 23 years old, isn’t yet the vocal rah-rah guy in the Reds’ clubhouse. But all eyes are always on the most talented player on the team. De La Cruz sets an example as he posts every day.

“If Elly is that good and he’s leading by example with how you play the game every day, how you show up and work every day, that trickles down into this clubhouse,” Hampson said. “Also, those minor league guys who came up with Elly, they see him and are like, ‘I can do that, too.’ It trickles down through the whole organization when a young player like that takes the reigns.”

Last year in Kansas City, Hampson saw former teammate Bobby Witt Jr. chase this feat. Witt was on that pace until a back injury took him out of the lineup for a game in September.

“Bobby Witt really wanted to do that (and play all 162 games) last year,” Hampson said. “He was dealing with a back issue right before the playoffs last year, and he had to be pulled off the field. For some guys, it’s a part of a mentality that they take with them every day. It’s what makes them special.”

Everyone wants to be a player who’s in the lineup every single day, but actually reaching that accomplishment is an incredible challenge. De La Cruz has never shied away from dreaming big.