Francona sets lofty goal for Elly as Reds star, skipper form strong bond

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Elly De La Cruz was waiting on deck to bat against teammate Carson Spiers during Friday's workout when the shortstop heard manager Terry Francona call out to him from behind the fence.

"Nunca te rindas," Francona said. De La Cruz turned and flashed a big grin.

The English translation is "never give up." De La Cruz taught it to Francona during a 20-minute conversation the two had in Francona's office on Thursday. There were numerous topics.

“The second one was, 'I want you to teach me one Spanish word or phrase every day,'" Francona told De La Cruz.

What was the first?

“I told him again yesterday, ‘I want you to be the best player in baseball on the best team in baseball.’ That’s my goal," Francona said. "And he got a big smile on his face.”

The 23-year-old De La Cruz batted .259 with an .810 OPS and 5.2 WAR in 160 games last year during his first full Major League season. A first-time All-Star, he led MLB with 67 stolen bases and was Cincinnati's leader with 25 home runs, 36 doubles and 10 triples.

De La Cruz arrived at camp a couple of days ahead of Saturday's full-squad report date and Monday's first full-squad workout.

“I just worked a lot and enjoyed my free time," De La Cruz said of his offseason during an interview done in English. “I worked basically on the same thing -- my body, defense, hitting, all that stuff.”

Besides Francona, the Reds have a new hitting coach in Chris Valaika.

“I like them. I want to have good communication and do the work together," De La Cruz said.

Valaika stresses making contact and reducing strikeouts. That is something De La Cruz is striving for.

“Absolutely, I want to cut down on [strikeouts]. I worked on it," he said. "I will keep working and getting [more] experience.”

De La Cruz's five-tool skills -- even when at times raw -- continue to stand out. New acquisition Gavin Lux, who saw him as an opponent with the Dodgers, was impressed while hitting with De La Cruz on Friday.

“He makes everything look so easy. He’s uber-talented," Lux said. "He’s probably got the most talent out of anyone in baseball. Today in his first three at-bats, he gets three missiles up the middle. It was really impressive what he does. I’m looking forward to seeing him across a full season. He’s still getting better too, which is the amazing part.”

Raw talent often comes with mistakes and setbacks. De La Cruz was also MLB's 2024 leader in strikeouts (218), errors (29), times caught stealing (16) and non-stealing outs on the bases (15).

"With young players as they accumulate at-bats, they get to that 1,200, you see them grow," Francona said. "The messaging is, ‘With good young players, the game slows down, but it doesn’t mean we play at a slower pace.’ It just makes it easier to make better decisions. That’s what we want to do."

Since his June 6, 2023, debut, De La Cruz has 1,006 big league at-bats.

“It’s not just here, but everywhere, the good players get brought up quickly," Francona said. "But when you do that, you just have to be ready to be a little patient because there’s going to be some mistakes. They’re going to see stuff at the Major League level that they’ve never seen before. That’s just part of it. Sometimes when you’re that ultra-talented, you can outrun maybe some of your mistakes in the Minor Leagues that you not necessarily can do here.”

Off the field, it was a big offseason, too, as De La Cruz and his sports idol, basketball great Steph Curry, now have something in common. Late last month, he was revealed as one of three young MLB stars -- along with Paul Skenes and Gunnar Henderson -- on the cover of the MLB The Show 25 video game.

Curry, the Golden State Warriors superstar, was a past cover star of the NBA 2K game.

“That was nice. I was so excited and happy," De La Cruz said. "That’s a big honor.”

De La Cruz was also the star of a new MLB commercial that was done in Claymation.

After his October hiring, Francona visited with De La Cruz, Jeimer Candelario and Noelvi Marte in the Dominican Republic.

The start of a new working relationship was born.

"It means a lot. It means he cares about us, and I really appreciate it," De La Cruz said. “I’ve got to get to [know] him more close. A lot of people talk good about him. He’s a legend. I like him, and I like what I am seeing.”