Elly De La Cruz Wins Major National League Award After 4th MLB Season

The Cincinnati Reds finished the 2026 season with a disappointing 75-87 record, but Elly De La Cruz gave fans a reason to remain invested in the team moving forward. The 24-year-old shortstop was named the National League Player of the Month for September after one of the best individual months by any player in baseball.

De La Cruz hit .348 with nine home runs, 19 RBIs and a 1.156 OPS in September, while adding six stolen bases and recording 64 total bases. Those numbers led to the monthly award and capped a season in which he reached another level offensively.

He finished the year hitting .283 with a .365 on-base percentage and an .880 OPS, along with 30 home runs, 79 RBIs and 30 stolen bases across 143 games.

The 30-30 season made De La Cruz the fourth player in Reds history to reach both marks in the same year, joining Eric Davis in 1987, Barry Larkin in 1996 and Brandon Phillips in 2007. All three of those players are in the Reds Hall of Fame, with Larkin also inducted in Cooperstown.

The accomplishment is even more impressive given that De La Cruz missed three weeks in June with a right hamstring strain. He still managed to put together a career year on both sides of the ball, showing what he is capable of when healthy for an extended stretch.

His September run was not just about power. De La Cruz hit safely in each of his first eight games of the month and had six straight multi-hit games from September 2nd through the 8th.

He also made notable strides against left-handed pitching after spending the offseason working on his right-handed swing, addressing one of the more significant holes in his game.

The individual success came during a difficult season for Cincinnati. Manager Terry Francona has been complimentary of De La Cruz throughout the year, but there is no hiding the gap between what he produced individually and what the team accomplished as a whole.

That gap will frame Cincinnati's entire offseason. De La Cruz is a franchise player already producing at an elite level in just his fourth MLB season, but the Reds need a much stronger roster around him if his best years are going to mean anything in October.

Trade speculation surfaced around him during the season, and with his contract value continuing to rise, how long Cincinnati can realistically keep him before his next deal becomes a major financial decision is a real conversation the organization will have to have.

For now, the Reds have one of the most electric players in baseball under their control.