Cincinnati Reds Most Valuable Position Player is an Easy Choice

The Reds were led by the power and speed of Elly De La Cruz

Sep 29, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz (44) during the sixth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images / Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds were led by three players in 2024. Incidentally, they were the team’s most valuable position player, most valuable pitcher, and most improved player. Let’s hone in on the most valuable player: Elly De La Cruz.

This is presumably the first of many years De La Cruz will win this award. He very likely will contend for the league’s in the future—maybe as soon as next season.

De La Cruz became the first Reds player since Eric Davis in 1986 to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 60 bases. He also improved in a lot of areas from 2023 when he showed flashes of greatness, but not consistently. We daw much more of that in 2024.

From June through August, in 78 games, De La Cruz slashed .278/.347/.508 with 13 home runs. He got on base 121 times compared to 97 strikeouts. It was a stretch like that that helped define his season.

Whether you look at Baseball Reference’s calculations or Fangraphs, De La Cruz was right around 6 WAR. FanGraphs had him at 6.4 while Baseball Reference had him at 5.2. Differences in their calculations are based on fielding statistics.

In either case, no other position player had a higher WAR on the Reds.

If you removed him from the Reds lineup, then there is nothing for opposing pitchers to fear. He is the one player that opposing pitchers must gameplay for before playing Cincinnati. 

Here’s hoping he continues to improve this offseason, but he was the Reds' best player in 2024.

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