By admin 
On Monday night as the Reds hosted the Royals, the home broadcast panned to Elly De La Cruz sitting in the dugout, anxiously looking on as his teammates played defense.
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For the previous 276 games, De La Cruz was on the field, but when he painfully ran to first base during Sunday’s win over Atlanta, it was apparent that the shortstop was injured on a ball that under normal circumstances is a double for the speedster.
A day later, the Reds announced De La Cruz was going to miss two to four weeks with a strained right hamstring. Any diagnosis of a hamstring injury deflates a team, but the timeline for De La Cruz is slightly better than Munetaka Murakami, whose standout season for the White Sox is on hold with a hamstring issue that will keep him out for four to six weeks.
How the Reds are replacing De La Cruz at shortstop
The Reds called up Edwin Arroyo, who is the No. 3 prospect in the organization according to MLB.com. Arroyo is a natural shortstop and may get some time there, but did not go to short immediately.
Instead, the Reds slotted second baseman Matt McLain at shortstop for Monday’s loss to the Royals. McLain is not a newcomer to shortstop since he played 53 games there as a rookie in 2023 and has 65 career appearances at the position and in De La Cruz’s absence, he will become eligible at shortstop in various fantasy leagues.
Including stats in winter leagues and Puerto Rico in the WBC, Arroyo has 408 games under his belt at shortstop and 54 at second base. With Triple-A Louisville, Arroyo appeared 33 times at shortstop and was hitting .323.
Arroyo joined the Reds nearly four years after being part of the package obtained from the Seattle Mariners for Luis Castillo, who currently is part of a piggyback situation in the AL West leaders’ rotation with Bryce Miller.
He is the third player from that deal to appear for the Reds. The prominent return was Noelvi Marte, who was demoted after hitting .138 in 11 games this season and is a career .249 hitter.
What is the Reds schedule without De La Cruz?
By stating two weeks is the minimum amount of time De La Cruz will miss, it means he will be a spectator for a three-game series in St. Louis, three games in San Diego, and three games at home against Arizona.
If the next scan returns favorable results, it is possible the Reds get him back for three home games against the Mets ahead of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
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The Reds are currently 30-29 and seven games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central where every team is over .500 as of Tuesday morning. If the timeline for De La Cruz’s injury extends to four weeks, it will cost him three games against Milwaukee and three against Pittsburgh.
If his progress is slowed even further, De La Cruz will miss a four-game series at Milwaukee June 28-July 2.
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What other players are sidelined with hamstring injuries?
Besides Murakami and De La Cruz, the most prominent name on the IL with a hamstring injury is the Dodgers’ outfielder Teoscar Hernandez
Hernandez batted .276 with seven homers, 31 RBIs and a .785 OPS in 51 games before injuring his hamstring last Wednesday. Last season, Hernandez dropped from an .840 OPS to .738 OPS when his average dropped 25 points to .247.
In the same week as Hernandez’s injury, Dylan Cease left a start for the Blue Jays against the Pirates with a strained left hamstring. Less than a week later, Cease threw a bullpen, and it seems the AL strikeout leader could make a quick recovery.
De La Cruz is currently the third Red with a hamstring injury.
Reliever Emilio Pagan appeared in 15 games before injuring his hamstring May 5 and recently underwent a second MRI that showed improvement. Catcher Jose Trevino appeared in 11 games before injuring his hamstring May 16 and he is still in the initial recovery stages.
Hamstring injuries not as prevalent as oblique ailments
While hamstrings are tricky, they are nowhere as prevalent as oblique problems. Those often occur whenever a team announces that a player is leaving a game with “side tightness”.
In 2019, the oblique problem cost Aaron Judge two months in a season when the Yankees set records for IL stints and still won 103 games due to DJ LeMahieu nearly winning a batting title and Gleyber Torres becoming an All-Star.
As of Tuesday morning, eight players are on the IL with oblique issues. The most prominent names recovering from the oblique injury are Cal Raleigh, Jose Altuve, Gleyber Torres and Drake Baldwin and it seems unclear when each player is returning much to the determinant of their teams and fantasy owners.
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This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 2:54 PM.