Elly De La Cruz is by far the most electric baseball player in the league today, especially on the base paths. He is one of those players that can turn a routine double into a triple in a blink of an eye. De La Cruz had a strong 2024 campaign when he was on the field, as he did miss some time last season at times. Right now, he’s on the short list of shortstops to build a team around and the Cincinnati Reds need him to continue the strong trajectory of improvement he showed in 2024. Speaking of 2024, here’s a strong look at De La Cruz’s 2024 numbers.
Elly De La Cruz 2024 Production
De La Cruz had 160 hits, 25 home runs, 76 RBIs, 67 stolen bases with a .259 average, a .339 on-base percentage, and a .810 OPS. Only Henderson and Witt Jr had better overall seasons at the shortstop position out of the prominent young shortstops in overall production and fantasy in general. De La Cruz was an NL All-Star in 2024 with a 5.2 WAR last season.
De La Cruz’s base running numbers were the most outstanding part of his game last season, especially when you look at his advanced base running numbers. He had a Stolen Base percentage in the 80s in a full season’s worth, slightly above the MLB average at 79.6. His electric speed alone is one of the reasons why he was one of those valued pieces in fantasy baseball in 2024. That speed will also be a huge reason that people will look at him a lot in 2025. Speaking of 2025 here are his fantasy projections.
Elly De La Cruz 2025 Projections
ESPN has De La Cruz as the sixth-rated batter and third-best shortstop (Witt Jr., Henderson) in fantasy projections. His stat line projection is 25 HRs, 78 RBIs, and 58 SBs, with slightly lower average, on-base percentage, and OPS numbers than last season. Although I like ESPN’s projection, I think he’ll be closer to 67 steals once again. I think he will get around 63-65 steals next season.
Baseball-Reference has the following projection, which is even more conservative and low: 21 HRs, 66 RBIs, 50 SBs, 137 Hits, etc. I get confused about that projection for Elly because even though I agree that Elly won’t hit for average a lot of the time, his power and speed combination will be even more prevalent this upcoming season. The Reds need him to be productive for them to have a chance in an open NL Central. He will need to also have significant improvement like Henderson did in 2024 in regards to the plate discipline aspect of his game if the Reds want a chance to win more games.
Conclusion
De La Cruz will be a first-round pick in the redraft formats a lot of the time, but he could fall to the second round of leagues. If he does fall into the second, it would be a huge steal in terms of value because he is a first-round talent in fantasy baseball nine times out of ten. De La Cruz’s speed will have a huge impact in fantasy baseball this upcoming season in a lot of ways making potential owners ecstatic to have the opportunity to grab him.
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