Elly De La Cruz won’t be suiting up for the Dominican Republic in this year’s World Baseball Classic, and while that news may seem surprising on the surface, there’s a bit of a backstory here that adds some layers worth unpacking.
Earlier this offseason, De La Cruz was initially announced as part of the Dominican roster-a move that made plenty of sense given his electric talent and rising star status. But not long after, that announcement was quietly walked back.
Around the same time, he was also slated to participate in a home run derby event in Miami hosted by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., only to be scratched from that as well. Noelvi Marte stepped in and ended up winning the event, but De La Cruz’s absence didn’t go unnoticed.
Now, as of late Friday night, it's official: De La Cruz won’t be participating in the WBC. According to Reds.com’s Mark Sheldon, the decision was made collaboratively between the Reds and De La Cruz, citing the quad injury he dealt with during the 2025 season as the reason.
Here’s where things get interesting.
De La Cruz played all 162 games last season. Every single one.
He was in the All-Star Game. He played in both of Cincinnati’s playoff games.
And for more than half the season, the Reds were aware he was dealing with that quad issue. Yet, he never missed a game-not one.
The only time he wasn’t in the field, he was slotted in as the designated hitter once in the second half of the season. That’s it.
No rest days, no IL stint, no load management. Just steady, daily appearances on the lineup card.
So now, five months after the season wrapped, the same quad injury is keeping him out of international competition?
There are a couple of ways to read this. One possibility is that the Reds are simply playing it safe.
After all, De La Cruz is a cornerstone of their future, and they may not want to risk him in a high-intensity tournament like the WBC-especially with the quad issue on record. Even if he’s healthy now, having that documented injury gives the organization some leverage to steer the decision.
But there’s also the other side of it-the more concerning one. What if he’s still not fully healthy?
If the quad is still bothering him this deep into the offseason, that’s not just a precautionary move. That’s a red flag.
And if that’s the case, it raises some important questions about how the injury was managed during the season, what kind of lingering effects he’s dealing with, and how it might impact his readiness for 2026.
For now, we don’t have those answers. What we do know is that Elly De La Cruz, one of the most dynamic young players in the game, won’t be representing the Dominican Republic this spring. Whether that’s about health, caution, or something in between, it’s a storyline worth keeping an eye on as spring training approaches.