Elly De La Cruz had a great exchange with Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday night that went viral.
Ohtani doubled in the bottom of the fifth inning of his Los Angeles Angels’ game against the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of their doubleheader. As Ohtani stood on second, De La Cruz went over to the Angels star and poked him to make sure he was real.
Elly De La Cruz gotta check if Shohei is real 😂🦄@Angels | #GoHalos pic.twitter.com/JLcIHEhdr3
— FanDuel Sports Network West (@FanDuelSN_West) August 24, 2023
It was a great moment and showed the immense respect De La Cruz has for the two-way sensation. But Ohtani, modest as he is, tried to throw it right back at De La Cruz. He seemed to say to the Reds rookie, “me, what about you? You hit a ball all the way out of the park while off balance.”
Ohtani seemed to be referring to the 3-run home run De La Cruz belted from the right side of the plate in the first game of the doubleheader.
Elly De La Cruz rocks@ellylacocoa18 pic.twitter.com/NeV1Jk6d0J
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 23, 2023
De La Cruz also had a 3-run double in the game from the left side and drove in six of the Reds’ nine runs.
De La Cruz has burst onto the scene, using an incredible combination of power, speed and defense to help propel the Reds into playoff contention. Still, he has a ways to go to get to Ohtani’s level of brilliance. At 21 years old, De La Cruz has time on his side.
