Elly De La Cruz is no longer going to lead off for the Cincinnati Reds. That much we are sure of since manager Terry Francona took over, with his switch-hitting superstar now penciled into the #3 spot in the lineup each and every day.
Elly is also a guy who filed a 67 steal season onto his ledger at just 22 years of age, and already has 139 steals in 420 career games as he enters just his age 24 season in 2026. All that despite playing most of the latter half of 2025 with a quad injury that clearly
sapped both his ability to reach base in the first place and take extra bases once getting there.
It’s a bit of a dichotomy, especially when you factor in the tendencies of previous manager David Bell and Tito, who wants his baserunners to be a bit more cautious and calculated when taking off. It’s a situation with enough variables that I thought it worth asking you, the fine readers of Red Reporter, whether you thought Elly had another 50+ steal season in him in 2026.
In a pretty overwhelming vote, you sure as heck think he does.
A healthy quad will certainly help Elly, who still managed 37 swipes in that banged-up 2025 campaign. Presumably more thumpers behind him in the lineup everyday will, too, as the likes of Sal Stewart and Eugenio Suárez work deeper counts, take more pitches, and see more off-speed breaking balls as pitchers try to keep the ball in the ball park.
There’s also the playing time factor that Elly may have to deal with more in 2026 than ever before. Francona has spoken openly about trying to get Elly days off here and there after he played in the full 162 games last year (and looked worn down and hurt a lot of the time), and even a modicum of reduction in opportunities will obviously make racking up counting stats harder to do in a shorter amount of time. However, that could mean he’s closer to 100% in more games played, and that could be enough for his turbochargers to reset faster than they did just last year.
Personally, I took the over here, too. I think Elly’s got a handful of 50+ steal seasons in those legs, and we’ll look back at 2025 as the exception to the rule.
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