Elly De La Cruz has bat checked, then homers with a Nationals taunt
Elly De La Cruz added some flair to his latest feat during his show-stopping rookie season.
The electric Cincinnati rookie third baseman had the knob handle of his bat checked by umpires during the second inning of the Reds’ 9-2 blowout win over the Nationals on Wednesday night in Washington.
Just three innings later, he blasted a 455-foot moonshot to right field, gesturing toward the handle of his bat as he seemed to tell the Nationals dugout to check it again.
“Just to tell everybody that the knob is not the reason why I am doing a good job,” De La Cruz said after the game, referring to the meaning behind the gesture. “It’s because of all the work I’m putting out there.”
After a lengthy discussion between umpires in the second inning about whether or not the 21-year-old De La Cruz could keep the knob handle on his bat, the crew ultimately decided to let him leave it on.
According to Bally Sports Cincinnati, the knob handle is a Blast Motion sensor, a device De La Cruz has been using all season to track swing data, per the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“It’s something that we use in spring training,” De La Cruz said through a translator. “It’s just a sensor that we use but there it’s just the plastic that covers the bat. There’s nothing else besides that. I started using it back in 2021. It just felt more comfortable using that and from there on out I asked for more of those plastic shells.”
Speaking after Cincinnati’s victory, crew chief Adrian Johnson said National manager Davey Martinez pointed out the knob cover to the umpires.
Johnson said they checked with the league office, but it took a while to get a response.
“We had to continue to play, to keep the game going,” he said. “They finally got back to us before his next at-bat and said that the attachment was approved. So, he played the rest of the game with the attachment on the bat.”
During the discussion — prompted by Martinez — the Reds’ broadcast booth poked fun at what they saw as the absurdity of the situation.
“Does he have some kind of device augmenting attached there, that he’s not allowed to have?” John Sadak, the lead play-by-play commentator, asked.
“Probably a jetpack,” Chris Welsh, the color commentator, quipped.
De La Cruz’s homer, which rocketed off his bat at 111.6 mph, was his fourth on the season, the latest blast for the 21-year-old, 6-foot-5 phenom who routinely produces jaw-dropping exit velocities.
His first major-league hit was a 112-mph missile for a double, and his first homer was a 114.8-mph shot.
The fifth-inning home run, which traveled to the upper deck of Nationals Park, put the Reds up 5-1.
De La Cruz, who was 3-for-6 in the win, is now hitting .318 this season.
De La Cruz, who has a .892 OPS over his first 110 big-league at-bats, has been a key component of the Reds’ surprising ascent to first place in the NL Central this year.
Cincinnati, which is 48-39, has been buoyed by brilliant rookie performances across the roster, including Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, and Andrew Abbott in addition to De La Cruz.
The Reds will wrap up their three-game series in Washington on Thursday.
— with AP
