"Elly De La Cruz continues to impress" - Reds legend points pathway for All-Star shortstop to enter 2025 NL MVP conversation

Ever since making his big league debut in June 2023, Elly De La Cruz has established himself as one of the most exciting talents in the majors and one of the Cincinnati Reds' most influential players.

The young Dominican has enjoyed yet another solid season in 2025, earning his second consecutive All-Star selection. According to Cincinnati Reds legend Sean Casey, De La Cruz is now ready to take his career to the next level and include himself in the conversation for the 2025 NL MVP award.

The 51-year-old explained how he can do so via his YouTube channel on Wednesday.

"He is a superstar," Casey said (Timestamp: 1:42). "Just being out there with him in Bristol, seeing him up-close man, he's just different the way he looks. He's so tall, he's so lean, so fast, it looks a little different. So, like I said, can't teach experience in baseball. The more you play, the better you're going to be. Elly De La Cruz continues to impress.

"Let me tell you what, if he goes off in this second half and brings the Reds to the playoffs, you're looking at some awards maybe."

Sean Casey claims Elly De La Cruz can go down as "one of the greatest to ever do it" in Cincinnati Reds history

Ever since Elly De La Cruz burst onto the scene, club legend Sean Casey has often admitted that he is an admirer of the Dominican's abilities.

In another YouTube video in mid-July, the Reds Hall of Famer talked about how De La Cruz could go down as "one of the greatest to ever do it" in Cincinnati Reds history, if he goes on to realize his sky-high potential.

"The Cincinnati Reds fans, you know, are the best in the game as far as like, you know, just some of the greatest players that have ever played this amazing game of baseball," Casey said (Timestamp: 16:09).

"And Elly De La Cruz could go down as one of those guys, you know, one of those guys where you're like, man, this guy is one of the greatest to ever do it."

So far this season, De La Cruz is batting .279 with 19 home runs and 73 RBIs. With Cincinnati currently fourth in the wildcard standings, Elly has a real chance of helping the Reds make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Kim Daniel Rubinos