Cincinnati Reds Superstar in Rare Company With Second All-Star Selection

On Sunday night, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz was selected as a National League All-Star for the second season in a row.

The 23-year-old joins rare company, becoming just the eighth National League shortstop is history to have multiple All-Star selections by age 23, according to Matt Wilkes.

He joins Arky Vaughan, Chris Speier, Garry Templeton, Edgar Renteria, Jimmy Rollins, Starlin Castro, and Corey Seager.

“I just want to have fun and meet the players," De La Cruz told MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. “It was awesome, a good experience.”

De La Cruz is slashing .277/.349/.487 with 35 extra-base hits and 22 stolen bases this season for Cincinnati. He went 1-2 with a single in the 2024 All-Star Game. The American League All-Stars beat the National League All-Stars 5-3.

Reds manager Terry Francona had high praise for the young shortstop.

“Everything he kind of told me this winter -- when I say that he’s not a big talker -- but he told me what he wanted to be and how he wanted to get there," manager Terry Francona said. "He’s doing that. He’s growing up. One of the things he has to battle is everybody is always talking about his ceiling. I just want to kind of impress upon him that if we see it within the confines of the game, it’s really going to be special. I think he’s doing a really good job of that.”

You can read Sheldon's full article on De La Cruz here.