Cincinnati Reds fans have been holding their breath since star shortstop Elly De La Cruz pulled up lame with a hamstring injury on May 31. But the latest update from manager Terry Francona suggests the wait might be shorter than anyone expected — and that the 23-year-old is practically begging to get back on the field.
Speaking Friday, Francona revealed that follow-up MRI scans on De La Cruz’s left hamstring showed the muscle is about 90 percent healed. That’s a remarkably fast recovery for a strain that initially looked serious enough to land him on the 10-day injured list for the first time in his career.
“He got, I’d say, very good news,” Francona said, via MLB.com. “He’s about 90 percent healed, which is fantastic. He’s upping the activity — the intensity and the amount of it — and then we’ll let him go over the weekend and then we’ll kind of put our heads together again on Sunday and see where we think he’s at.”
According to Francona, De La Cruz was so eager to return that he told his manager he wanted to play Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. But the Reds are taking a cautious approach with their franchise cornerstone.
“He wanted to play tonight,” Francona said. “We need to try and temper that sometimes.”
It’s easy to understand why the Reds are being careful. De La Cruz has been the engine of their offense this season, batting .280 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs across 58 games. Without him, Cincinnati’s lineup has lacked its usual spark — the team entered Friday’s series opener at 32-35, sitting dead last in the NL Central.
De La Cruz’s Unusual Recovery Mindset
What stands out in Francona’s comments is the manager’s description of De La Cruz’s mentality. The young shortstop didn’t just accept the IL stint — he immediately started looking for ways to speed up the process.
“He actually wanted to go work out. We told him if he was going to work out, he had to come in here so we could keep an eye on him,” Francona said. “Elly is kind of amazing. I believe that you could almost will yourself [to heal quickly] sometimes. I think there’s people like that, and he’s certainly one of them.”
That kind of determination is nothing new for De La Cruz, who has built a reputation for playing with an almost reckless intensity. It’s the same energy that makes him one of the most exciting players in baseball — and also the same trait that sometimes lands him in situations where he needs to be reined in.
What Comes Next for the Reds
The Reds will reassess De La Cruz’s status after the weekend, with a potential return early next week now looking realistic. The team has not set a firm date for his activation, but Francona’s 90-percent figure suggests that a full recovery is close.
For a Reds club that has struggled to stay afloat in the NL Central, getting De La Cruz back sooner rather than later could be the difference between making a push and fading into irrelevance. Cincinnati’s offense has averaged just 3.8 runs per game since he went down, and the lineup lacks another player with his combination of power and speed.
Until he’s cleared, the Reds will rely on internal options to hold down shortstop — but if De La Cruz has his way, that fill-in period won’t last much longer.
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