Nationals manager Dave Martinez missed a very important memo: If teams complain about opponents' equipment in apparent mind games, what happens next is on them.
He learned the hard way Wednesday night against the Reds, when Martinez and the Nationals took issue with Elly De La Cruz's bat knob and requested it be removed, something the umpire crew acquiesced to for an at-bat in the second inning.
De La Cruz struck out in that plate appearance, but when the 21-year-old homered in the fifth inning with the knob reattached, he gestured to it to his own dugout.
Elly De La Cruz had to remove his knob handle off of his bat so it could be checked
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 6, 2023
He was eventually allowed to put it back on pic.twitter.com/7B6DP7vtBD
MORE: Elly De La Cruz follows up bat inspection with mammoth home run vs. Nats
De La Cruz had a 455-foot dinger with an exit velocity of 111.6 mph. By the time the Reds' 9-2 win was finished, he had hit three balls 106.4 mph or more for a home run and two doubles, continuing his MLB trend of hitting the ball ridiculously hard.
Martinez, who watched Juan Soto bring the Soto Shuffle into the game with the Nats, was not keen on De La Cruz's "antics." To Martinez's credit, he's consistently grumpy: When Soto carried his bat to first against the Astros in the 2019 World Series, he said "we didn't like it." So he isn't purely discriminating based on jersey.
"I love the way [De La Cruz] plays the game," Martinez told reporters after the Nationals loss. "I didn’t like his antics after he hit the home run. We can do without that. He’s only got two weeks in the big leagues. But he’s gonna be a good player.”
Nationals manager Dave Martinez on Elly De La Cruz:
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) July 6, 2023
“I love the way he plays the game, but I didn’t like his antics after he hit the home run. We can do without that. He’s only got two weeks in the big leagues. But he’s gonna be a good player.”
(via @masnNationals) pic.twitter.com/qBwHqyzkLL
De La Cruz has been playing with that bat knob since joining The Show a month (not two weeks) ago and no other manager has vocally taken issue with it, plus MLB has previously approved it. Reds manager David Bell praised his shortstop after the game, and he had a slightly different take on the switch-hitter's energy.
"Elly's been playing great," Bell told reporters. "Plays with a lot of emotion and joy in a good way. But he's great at channeling that properly too. It's a long season and things happen where you can take that energy and put it in as fuel to play well, and I thought that was impressive how he did that tonight. But it's no different, he's been playing well since he's been here."
.@Reds skipper David Bell offers an explanation on what the umpires were looking at with Elly De La Cruz's bat early in the game. He praises the electric rookie for his response afterward as well. #ATOBTTR pic.twitter.com/KkcVd6PtEY
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) July 6, 2023
MORE: Cardinals find another way to lose game, prompting Twitter meltdown
Bell did acknowledge if the Reds hadn't had the knob previously approved, it would not be legal. So Martinez and the Nationals weren't entirely out of line in asking about it. De La Cruz's celebrations, however, are nothing new. And they're not going to go away regardless of how many weeks he has in the big leagues.
