Two months into the season, Cincinnati’s Chase Burns and Elly De La Cruz have built pacing that keeps National League Cy Young and MVP talk stuck to them—while another Reds name is mentioned for “award-worthy” potential.
For the Reds, the kind of summer talk that usually waits until September is starting early—right as the regular season pushes toward June. The conversation isn’t just about who’s playing well. It’s about who is making a case strong enough to follow into postseason voting.
Chase Burns is carrying the Cy Young thread with the calm, repeatable stuff that looks hard to manufacture. In his second big league season, he’s 7-1 with a 1.96 ERA through 11 starts. He finished May going 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA in five starts.
When he entered Thursday. Burns was ranked fourth in the National League in ERA and tied for fourth in strikeouts with 72. He was tied for seventh in innings pitched with 64 1/3 and tied for second in wins. His performance also showed up in bWAR for pitchers: he was tied for third in the Majors with 2.9. Even the way batters have been hitting him is part of the pitch—he was ranked third in hits-per-nine innings at 5.876.
The most striking streaks are the ones that keep returning. Five times this season, Burns has pitched five or more innings with eight strikeouts and two or fewer runs allowed. And he’s allowed two or fewer runs in each of his past eight starts. If you’re trying to picture an All-Star-level season, the shape is there—especially for someone who is 23.
To stay in that conversation, though, the math depends on staying healthy and available. There’s “plenty of stiff competition. ” and one name sits right on the other side of that line: the Phillies’ Cristopher Sánchez. Sánchez is 6-2 with a 1.47 ERA. and he didn’t allow an earned run in five starts this month as part of a still-active 44 2/3 scoreless-innings streak.
If Burns keeps doing what he’s been doing—and if he isn’t pushed into an innings limit too early—his early production could keep him inside the Cy Young debate.
Then there’s Elly De La Cruz. whose case is built less on one burst and more on a steady rise into what looks like consistency. A two-time All-Star, De La Cruz is having his most-consistent season since debuting in 2023. His improvement as a right-handed hitter is part of the reason he’s batting .279 overall with an .855 OPS. He has 12 home runs and 37 RBIs, and he has played all 55 games.
When he entered Thursday, De La Cruz led all shortstops in extra-base hits with 26, tied with CJ Abrams. He also led in total bases with 113 and had 38 runs, tied with Zach Neto.
Among National League leaders, he was fifth in hits with 62. He was sixth in total bases, tied for fifth in runs, tied for eighth in RBIs, and ninth in homers. There’s also a specific power detail that stands out: he already has as many homers off left-handed pitching with five as he did all of last season.
If De La Cruz ends up on a tear—and if it helps the Reds get back into the playoffs—his name would get checked on MVP ballots. But the hurdle is obvious. He’d have to do it while trying to unseat the Dodgers’ Ohtani, the two-time reigning NL MVP. And even if Ohtani isn’t the pick, the article makes clear there are plenty of other candidates.
Between the Cy Young pacing and the MVP numbers. the Reds have at least two players whose seasons already feel like they’re built for awards attention. And the season is still young enough for voters to move their focus—but only if these two keep turning their production into the kind of headlines voters remember.
Reds Cincinnati Reds Chase Burns Elly De La Cruz NL Cy Young NL MVP Rookie of the Year MLB awards Cristopher Sanchez Ohtani