Elly De La Cruz pointed to the knob of her bat as the ball soared into the night sky.
The electric rookie of the Cincinnati Reds he had something he wanted to say.
De La Cruz hit a 455-foot home run at Washington on Wednesday and then pointed to a plastic sensor cover on the end of his bat after it was removed earlier in the game.
“Just to tell everyone that the goatee is not the reason I’m doing a good job.” De La Cruz said of the meaning behind the gesture. “It’s because of all the work I’m doing.”
De La Cruz, 21, a key driver behind Cincinnati’s rise to the top of the NL Central, had an empty sensor cover on the knob of his bat.. But he was cut after the manager of the NationalsDave Martinez, questioned its use before the infielder scored the second.
The umpires reviewed the legality of the knob cover with the league office and informed De La Cruz that he was allowed to put it back on his bat for his second at-bat in the third.
“It’s something we used in spring training”De La Cruz said through a translator. “It’s just a sensor that we use, but there’s just the plastic that covers the bat. There is nothing else apart from that. I started using it in 2021. I felt more comfortable using it and ordered more of those plastic covers from then on.”
Speaking after Cincinnati’s 9-2 win, crew chief Adrian Johnson said Martinez pointed the knob cover at the officials. Johnson said they checked with the league office, but it took a while to get an answer.
“We had to keep playing, to keep the game going,” he said. “They finally got back to us before their next at-bat and said the attachment was approved. So, he played the rest of the game with the accessory on the bat.”
After flying out to left in the third, De La Cruz led off the fifth with a deep drive to right-center off Josiah Gray. He then pointed to the end of his bat before rounding the bases.
Martínez criticized De La Cruz’s celebration.
“I’m not trying to penalize this kid. I am not. I love the way he plays the game,” Martinez said. “I didn’t like his antics after he hit the home run. We can do without that. He only has two weeks in the big leagues, but he’s going to be a good player.”
It was De La Cruz’s fourth home run since making his major league debut on June 6. He is hitting .318 (35-for-110) with 14 RBIs and 11 steals in 26 games.