NEW YORK \u2014 After Elly De La Cruz rounded first base with a strained hamstring on May 31 during the series finale against the Braves, Terry Francona found a silver lining. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe did a good job of pulling up running and not tearing that thing,\u201d Francona said. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz caught the injury in time to stop himself from turning for second base, starting to sprint and making the injury worse. He spent the next three weeks being aggressive in a different way, working to accelerate his rehab as much as possible and beat the projected timeline for him to return to the Reds\u2019 lineup. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise me if he\u2019s on the quick end with his want-to,\u201d Francona said on June 1, after De La Cruz officially went on the injured list. <\/p>\n
Two of De La Cruz\u2019s defining traits are how much he cares, and how much he wants to play. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t even like coming out of blowout games,\u201d Francona said. \u201cHe just likes to play baseball. That\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
De La Cruz is nearing the end of his first stint on the big league injured list, and he\u2019s on track to return on Tuesday. His timeline to get to this point shows a lot about the drive that makes De La Cruz the type of player that he is. \u201cThe good ones,\u201d Francona says, \u201cThey push.\u201d<\/p>\n
June 1 to June 3<\/p>\n
At 9 o\u2019clock in the morning, on the day after he injured his hamstring, De La Cruz went with assistant athletic trainer Tom\u00e1s Vera and rehab and physical therapy director Eric Gonzalez to get a scan of the shortstop\u2019s hamstring. The results showed a strain between Grade 1 and Grade 2, Francona said. <\/p>\n
Francona said that De La Cruz\u2019s first thought was \u201cI can do it,\u201d continuing to play. But when they sat down and talked about the situation, Francona said that De La Cruz understood the plan in place. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz got an injection to promote healing, and the Reds set up the first part of his rehab plan. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz would spend the next couple of days getting treatment. Depending on how he was feeling, he\u2019d be able to progress into doing some light baseball activity. He\u2019d build up work over time, and a follow-up scan was scheduled for June 15. <\/p>\n
Between June 1 and June 3, during the Reds\u2019 series against the Royals, De La Cruz spent most of the game on the top step of the dugout. He was often wearing his glove. <\/p>\n
June 5 to June 11<\/p>\n
On June 5, during the afternoon in St. Louis before the series-opening game against the Cardinals, Francona walked into the tunnel near the clubhouse and saw De La Cruz with his glove on again. De La Cruz had been throwing a ball against the wall. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz was eager to get going, and his hamstring was feeling better. On June 6, Francona said that the Reds had decided to move De La Cruz\u2019s key follow-up MRI from June 15 to June 12. That was a good sign that De La Cruz was doing better. <\/p>\n
During this part of the process, De La Cruz started by walking on the treadmill, doing a lot of upper body training, fielding ground balls from his knees and throwing. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s doing everything he can,\u201d Francona said. \u201cEvery player pushes, especially the good ones. Our responsibility is to not let him hurt himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
On June 7, he started doing some light jogging on the field. De La Cruz was working every day, making progress. <\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t want a scheduled off day on June 11 to slow him down. So on that Thursday, he wanted to go to High-A Dayton to work out with the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe told him if he was going to work out, he\u2019d have to do it here (in Cincinnati) so we could keep an eye on him,\u201d Francona said. <\/p>\n
De La Cruz still went to the Dragons game that night, sitting in the dugout and cheering on the team. <\/p>\n
June 12 to June 18<\/p>\n
De La Cruz got that follow-up MRI, which gave the \u201cvery good news\u201d that he was 90% healed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s fantastic,\u201d Francona said. \u201cHe almost wills himself.\u201d <\/p>\n
He was cleared to up the intensity and the amount of work that he did before games. The Reds\u2019 brass planned to put their heads two days later, at the end of the day on Sunday, June 14, to finalize next steps. <\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, he has an opinion,\u201d De La Cruz said. \u201cWe need to try to temper that sometimes. He wants to play so bad. It\u2019s appreciated, but we don\u2019t want to hurt him.\u201dBetween June 1 and June 11, the Reds fell below .500 and dropped seven out of nine games. During that stretch, the Reds averaged 3.3 runs per game. The defense was also shaky. Without De La Cruz, the entire infield was shaken up and guys had to play different positions. <\/p>\n
The Reds missed their star player. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s champing at the bit,\u201d Francona said on June 12. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to do what\u2019s right. I think it aggravates him. We love the fact of how much he wants to play, believe me. We really respect it. We still have to do what\u2019s right. This is where we have to defer to medical people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds\u2019 brass ended up getting together the night of June 13, on Saturday, to talk about the next part of the plan for De La Cruz. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe put out a couple of possible schedules,\u201d Francona said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to talk to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
After discussing it with De La Cruz, they determined that he\u2019d run the bases on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (June 15-17) and start a rehab assignment on June 19<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been wanting to play for the last week,\u201d Francona said on June 15. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked to him several times. The one thing I don\u2019t want him to ever feel is that we\u2019re not listening to him and that we don\u2019t want him to play. We\u2019re dying for him to play. I don\u2019t think you can just do what\u2019s right when it\u2019s convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
On June 16, Francona said that De La Cruz could return to the active roster on Tuesday, June 23, at the earliest. The Reds set the plan for De La Cruz\u2019s rehab assignment in Triple-A (a tricky part in scheduling this rehab assignment was that all of the Reds\u2019 minor league teams were on the road, and there wasn\u2019t an easy place for De La Cruz to get to logistically). On June 18, he hopped on a plane and headed to Gwinnett, Georgia, for a rehab assignment with the Triple-A Louisville Bats. <\/p>\n
June 19 to June 21<\/p>\n
De La Cruz started his rehab assignment on Friday in Gwinnett. That game started at 5 o\u2019clock, which allowed Francona to tune in and watch the start of the game. In De La Cruz\u2019s second at-bat, he hit a 441-foot home run. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked like normal Elly,\u201d said Reds reliever Pierce Johnson, who was also on a Triple-A rehab assignment that night. \u201cIt was great to see him back on the field. He looks normal. I\u2019m excited to have him back as soon as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n
After the game, De La Cruz texted Francona: \u201cI\u2019ll be there (in New York) tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he was joking,\u201d Francona said. \u201cIt was kind of cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reds stuck with the plan. De La Cruz played five innings in Triple-A on Friday and was in the lineup at shortstop. On Saturday, De La Cruz took three at-bats as the DH. On Sunday, he was in the lineup in Triple-A at shortstop. .<\/p>\n
Francona said that there was a scenario where De La Cruz could have just played two rehab games and been activated on the Reds\u2019 big league roster on Monday for the start of the series against the Brewers. But with the schedule options that the Reds laid out for De La Cruz, he preferred the one that he\u2019s on now, which has him lined up to be activated on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Francona hasn\u2019t publicly laid out all of the specifics. <\/p>\n
But if De La Cruz were activated on Monday with two rehab games under his belt instead of three, would he have been ready to play back-to-back-to-back games and start three games in a row against the Brewers? If he were activated on Monday, would he have needed a day off for the series finale against Milwaukee on that Wednesday? <\/p>\n
The Reds do have a team off day scheduled next Thursday. So if De La Cruz is activated on Tuesday, he can play both Tuesday and Wednesday and then just use Thursday as an off day. He wouldn\u2019t have to play back-to-back-to-back games. He also wouldn\u2019t have to simply sit on the bench while being active for one of the Brewers games (as we\u2019ve established, De La Cruz likes to play). <\/p>\n
The Reds have missed him. With De La Cruz on the IL, the lineup didn\u2019t have its center piece, the team defense took a hit and other players had to step up into bigger roles. <\/p>\n
The Reds will be a different team when he\u2019s back. They\u2019re also getting healthier with Pierce Johnson (expected back on Monday), Hunter Greene (expected back as soon as the next couple of weeks) and Emilio Pag\u00e1n (set to begin a rehab assignment next week) making progress. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in the fight,\u201d Pag\u00e1n said. \u201cSimilar to last year, you stay in the fight and go on a run. We have a chance with guys getting healthy, Hunter coming back is going to be huge, when you have your best players on the field and contributing, that allows everybody else to fall in and do what they do and not have any extra pressure on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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