WARNING *Spoilers*: Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, the pitching staff. Those are the reasons for the Cincinnati Reds’ success.
For those of you who want to stick around for how they’re doing this, then it’s time for you and me to take a walk into the world where the Reds are 18-10, atop the NL Central.
Part I – Act I: Elly the Exemplary
Reds fans are exultant with De La Cruz’s early-season success at the plate, and it looks like, after an offseason of rest and adjustments, he has tapped into a whole new level at the plate.
Overall, De La Cruz has played in all 25 games this year, and is slashing .274/.336/.558 for a .907 OPS and 148 wRC+. Looking at that, it’s the slugging percentage that is eye-catching, sitting in the mid 500s when it has never been above .471 before this year.
A big part of this is his nine home runs. His power became a talking point during and after the 2025 season, where he hit 22 of them and slugged 50 points lower than the year before. However, all of this has been put to rest this year, but how he’s accomplishing this is a bit unexpected.
Act II: The Right Side Success
Like most young switch-hitters, De La Cruz has struggled from the right side early in his career.
WRC+ as a righty:
2023 — 29 wRC+
2024 — 83 wRC+
2025 — 64 wRC+
2026 — 209 wRC+
Now, math might not be a journalist’s strongest attribute, but 209 seems to stand out in a sea of double-digit numbers. De La Cruz is slashing .300/.320/.833 for a 1.156 OPS as a righty, which includes five of his nine total home runs on the year.
To further show how far his development as a right-handed hitter has grown, he had five home runs as a righty in ALL of last season. In fact, he has never hit more than six in one season as a righty, which at this rate he can beat in about a week.
The strikeouts from the right side can be lowered a bit, as it is currently at a relatively high 35.5 K%. In fact, it seems like the strikeouts in general are here to stay, for the time being.
Act III: Sinking into the Numbers
Overall on the season, his K% is at 27.0%, which is almost right in between his 30%~ mark from his first two seasons and the improved 25.9% in 2025. Strikeouts will always follow the conversation regarding De La Cruz’s play, but it does seem like it has been overblown a bit as of late. If the tradeoff for a near 30% K% is a high 500s slugging percentage, then why not take the tradeoff? A K% in the high 20s isn’t backbreaking, especially if he can be an elite hitter.
A common concern with early-season performances might stir up questions like ‘will this last?’ Well, looking at his BABIP, it is currently at .313, meaning De La Cruz has not been getting lucky with an overly high BABIP. In fact, since it is the lowest it has ever been by a wide margin, there’s a belief that it will eventually bump up a bit, which will improve his numbers even more.
De La Cruz (and another fella we’ll talk about later) is all the Reds offense has to offer right now. The rest of the Reds’ lineup has combined for negative fWAR so far, while De La Cruz himself has 1.4 fWAR. The success, for all we’ve seen, seems sustainable, which launches Elly truly into superstardom.
Part II – Act I: The s.s (Sal Stewart) Express
All aboard the S.S Express! Also known as the Sal Stewart Express, also known as the other half of the elite De La Cruz and Stewart duo. There was excitement regarding his potential after he had a nice cup of coffee in 2025, but nobody could have predicted the immediate explosion from the 22-year-old rookie.
He was touted as a highly mature hitter, but the completeness and maturity of his approach and success at the plate have impressed everyone. With a .291/.385/.602 slash line for a .987 OPS, Stewart has blown the doors open on the Rookie of the Year conversation and may be headed towards MVP conversations if this persists.
For lack of a better term, Stewart is as complete a hitter as it gets, especially at his age:
14.4 BB%
17.8 K%
.296 BABIP
29 RBI (Leads Major League Baseball)
nine HR
seven SB
.306 xBA
.618 xSLG
49.4 Hard-Hit%
Expected stats, actual stats, counting stats, batted ball metrics, eye test, the S.S Express has it all. I don’t think much else can be said as the numbers truly speak for themselves, but there’s absolutely no doubt that Stewart has arrived and will be one of the better hitters in the league for years to come.
Part III – Act I: The Men on the Mound
Now, forgive me if this comes as a shocker, but when two out of nine hitters are producing at a high level with everyone else worth negative WAR, limiting runs is a must if said team wants to win games. Luckily for Cincinnati, the Reds do want to win games, and they do limit runs thanks to their pitching staff. Unlike the offense, though, the teams’ pitching success has been a collective effort. Veterans, All-Stars, rookies, journeymen, prospects, you name it. Any and everyone who has taken the mound as a Red in 2026 has contributed to the seventh-best ERA in MLB.
Act II: Little Red(s) Riding Hood
Ignorance is bliss, as the old folks say, and the old folks may be correct. The Reds’ pitching staff is riddled with young pitchers, all of whom are blissfully unaware of the pressure of facing big league hitters as they mow them down one by one. Starting with Chase Burns, who’s posted a 2.57 ERA in five starts. He has been as advertised, with a triple-digit fastball and nasty slider combo carrying him to a 27.0 K%.
His fellow top prospect starter buddy, Rhett Lowder, has looked just as sharp, despite having different pitching styles. Lowder isn’t a guy who overpowers hitters, but his four-seam, sinker, slider, and change-up combo has brought him immense success over six starts as he has a 3.18 ERA. The two of them have stepped up in Hunter Greene’s absence and covered up Andrew Abbott’s rough start to the season.
Act III: The Cincinnati Fire Department
No matter the problem, the Cincinnati Fire Department (AKA the Reds bullpen) will come to the rescue and put it out. In a long list of relievers, many of them have stood out and carried the team in late-game situations. In fact, the Reds are now 7-0 in one-run games so far this year. Obviously, part of that success has been clutch late offense, but it still speaks volumes as to how dominant the bullpen has been.
Connor Phillips – 2.16 ERA
Graham Ashcraft – 1.29 ERA
Brock Burke – 0.68 ERA
Sam Moll – 2.19 ERA
Pierce Johnson – 3.75 ERA
Tony Santillan – 2.31 ERA
Main Photo Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images
